STUDY FOR A HEAD, 1955

  • Study for a Head, 1955, Francis Bacon

    Study for a Head, 1955

    Oil on Canvas, 101.5 x 76cm 

    ©The Estate of Francis Bacon, image reproduced for educational purposes

    Study for a Head (1955) is a powerful example of Francis Bacon’s continued exploration of the human figure as a site of psychological tension and raw emotion. The work presents a solitary head, distorted and suspended within a shallow, undefined space. The face appears caught mid-expression, blurred by motion and light, evoking both the immediacy of life and the disintegration of identity.
     
    Painted in deep tones of black, purple and fleshy pinks, the work combines stillness with volatility. The flesh seems to twist and shift, giving the image a sense of movement that is both physical and emotional. Bacon’s fascination with distortion was not about abstraction but revelation; he believed that by disrupting the surface of the human form, he could expose its inner reality.

  • I believe in deeply ordered chaos.

    - Francis Bacon

    Study for a Head, 1955, carries clear echoes of Francis Bacon’s Pope paintings, works that cemented his reputation during the late 1940s and early 1950s. The composition shares their atmosphere of containment and psychological strain, centring on a single, distorted head enclosed within a shallow, cage-like space. The blurred mouth, the flicker of movement, and the vertical lines that frame the figure all recall the trapped, tormented energy of his Screaming Popes.