• Francis Bacon
  • Early to Mid Career, Circa 1930 - 1970

    Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X, 1953

    Oil on canvas

    153cm x 118cm

    Early to Mid Career

    Circa 1930 - 1970
    Bacon's creative career began with drawing and watercolours during his early 20s, and honing his passion for creative work as a furniture designer, a role he later downplayed. His work began to draw attention during this period, however despite selling some paintings and objects, he struggled to make money from them and moved back into his previous unconventional lifestyle.
     
    With help from benefactors, including wealthy partners, Bacon was able to continue creating work, and in 1933 created his first original painting, 'Crucifixion, 1933'. This painting clearly reflected his abstract and surrealist influences, including Picasso's biomorph paintings. However, his career didn't become a success overnight and after many years still struggled with the recognition of his work; he was once rejected by the Internation Surrealist Exhibition for not being surreal enough. Not many of his artworks from this period still exist as Bacon destroyed much of it, potentially as a form of self sensoring, only keeping works that he deemed good enough.
     
     

  • "I want to paint like Velázquez but with the texture of a hippopotamus skin"

     

    - Francis Bacon

    Bacon's work from the 1940s began using relatively vivid colours, and through the decade became darker and more texture-driven. Taking influence from antiquity and old masters artists, including the Greek Furies and portraiture akin to Velazquez and Caravaggio, he created a range of works encompassing surreal figures and abstract scenes. Of the works from this period, 'Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944' and 'Figure in a Landscape, 1945' are noted as standout works, both showcasing Bacon's experimentation with figurative form and muddied scenes.
  • In 1946, Bacon produced 'Painting, 1946'. The development of this particular work was unqiue as he described beginning with the...

    Painting, 1946

    Oil and pastel on linen

    197.8cm x 132.1cm

    In 1946, Bacon produced 'Painting, 1946'. The development of this particular work was unqiue as he described beginning with the intention of painting a bird in a field, however the piece transformed into a mix of carcasses, blood and a mutilated figure, juxtaposed with the backdrop of an almost domestic scene including window blinds, a rug and an umbrella. During this period of his life, Bacon began his representation by Hanover Gallery after 'Painting, 1946' grabbed their attention and was shown in a range of international exhibition. The achievement found from this work enabled him to travel to Monaco and enjoy some of his success, however proved complicated when it came to meeting deadlines provided by upcoming exhibitions. It was during this time that he created the Head Series for an exhibition at Hanover Gallery in 1949.
     
    Later in the decade and moving into the 1950s, Bacon began incorporating nudes into his work and experimented with the obscuring of the male form, although did occasionally depict female subjects over his career. The significance of nudes in Bacon's work lies in how they embody his exploration of the human condition. His nudes strip away societal ideals, confronting viewers with raw, primal emotion. This deconstruction of the body demonstrates themes of suffering, isolation, and mortality, key aspects of Bacon's approach.
  • Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Bacon's work continued to evolve, often reflecting portraits of his friends, including Lucien Frued and...

    Portrait of George Dyer in a Mirror, 1968

    Oil on canvas

    78in x 58in

    Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Bacon's work continued to evolve, often reflecting portraits of his friends, including Lucien Frued and Frank Auerback. He also began using photography within his process in order to avoid judgement from sitters' on his distortion of them, a problem he faced in his earlier works. Over the course of the 1960s, Bacon's work took a clear shift from less gruesome and dark imagery towards twisted portraits that incorporated a variety of colours.

     

    Bacon flourished during this period, meeting with a variety of influential artists, such as Alberto Giacometti and John Deakin, as well as producing a large number of paintings. It was during this era that he began experimenting heavily with matierality, often using imprints from corduroy and other fabrics or squeezing paint directly from the tube onto the canvas. These works demonstrated a freedom and passion for his practice through their variety of emotions, whether that took a playful or frightening result.

     

    It was during this stage of his life that Bacon met George Dyer. Dyer would become a huge influence on Bacon's artistic career and his personal life. A large number of paintings from this period depict Dyer as the subject, demonstrating his continued reverance for him. The two began a turbulent relationship in the early 60s which was reflected in Bacon's paintings during their time together, as well as in his memorial paintings after Dyer's death in the 1970s.