Francis Bacon

(British, 1909–1992)

Francis Bacon was an Irish artist and one of the most unique, engaging figurative painters to emerge during the post-war period. His grotesque imagery—contorted limbs, howling mouths agape, blood—served as method of exploring nihilism and death at a time when Europe had been repeatedly savaged by war. Inspired by both the Old Masters and Surrealism, Bacon produced several compositions based on the work of other painters, notably including his arresting Study After Velazquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953). In this iconic work, Bacon transforms Diego Velazquez’s classic portrait into a screaming, terrifying figure. “I feel ever so strongly that an artist must be nourished by his passions and his despairs,” he once said. “The feelings of desperation and unhappiness are more useful to an artist than the feeling of contentment, because desperation and unhappiness stretch your whole sensibility.” Born on October 28, 1909 in Dublin, Ireland, the self-taught artist moved to London to escape a hostile home life. Bacon became part of the local art scene in the British capital, which included his friends Lucian Freud, Isabel Lambert, and John Deakin. After the death of Bacon’s lover in 1972, his work became even more personalized, with a renewed focus on mortality. In 1963, a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York brought international prestige, which continued until his death on April 28, 1992 in Madrid, Spain. Today, his works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Tate Gallery in London, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hugh Lane in Dublin, and the Albertina in Vienna, among others.

Francis Bacon (3,467 results)

Seated Figure, 1992

Francis Bacon

Seated Figure, 1992

Sale Date: October 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych 1986-87, 1987

Francis Bacon

Triptych 1986-87, 1987

Sale Date: September 21, 2022

Auction Closed

Trois études pour un autoportrait, 1990

Francis Bacon

Trois études pour un autoportrait, 1990

Sale Date: September 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Three Studies of the Male Back, 1987

Francis Bacon

Three Studies of the Male Back, 1987

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych August 1972, 1979

Francis Bacon

Triptych August 1972, 1979

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976

Francis Bacon

Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Trois études pour un autoportrait, 1983

Francis Bacon

Trois études pour un autoportrait, 1983

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror, 1977

Francis Bacon

Figure Writing Reflected in a Mirror, 1977

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Second Version, Triptych 1944, 1944

Francis Bacon

Second Version, Triptych 1944, 1944

Sale Date: September 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Portrait of John Edwards

Francis Bacon

Portrait of John Edwards

Sale Date: October 4, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych (In Memory of George Dyer) (cf. S...., 1976

Francis Bacon

Triptych (In Memory of George Dyer) (cf. S...., 1976

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Study For The Head Of Lucian Freud (Q3), 2015

After Francis Bacon

Study For The Head Of Lucian Freud (Q3), 2015

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Three Studies of Male Back (One Work) (S...., 1987

Francis Bacon

Three Studies of Male Back (One Work) (S...., 1987

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Œdipe and the Sphinx after Ingres (Sabatier..., 1984

Francis Bacon

Œdipe and the Sphinx after Ingres (Sabatier..., 1984

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych (In Memory of George Dyer) (One..., 1976

Francis Bacon

Triptych (In Memory of George Dyer) (One..., 1976

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Seated Figure (S. 5; T. 15), 1983

Francis Bacon

Seated Figure (S. 5; T. 15), 1983

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Study for a Portrait of John Edwards (S...., 1987

Francis Bacon

Study for a Portrait of John Edwards (S...., 1987

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Sale Date: September 22, 2022

Auction Closed

Study of a Nude (Q4), 1953

After Francis Bacon

Study of a Nude (Q4), 1953

Sale Date: September 15, 2022

Auction Closed

Figures in a Landscape (Q5), 1956

After Francis Bacon

Figures in a Landscape (Q5), 1956

Sale Date: September 15, 2022

Auction Closed

Seated Figure (after, Seated Figure 1977)..., 1992

Francis Bacon

Seated Figure (after, Seated Figure 1977)..., 1992

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Study from Human Body (after, Study from..., 1992

Francis Bacon

Study from Human Body (after, Study from..., 1992

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych (after, Triptych: right panel 1991) , 1992

Francis Bacon

Triptych (after, Triptych: right panel 1991) , 1992

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Deuxième version du triptyque, 1944 (Second..., 1989

Francis Bacon

Deuxième version du triptyque, 1944 (Second..., 1989

Sale Date: September 14, 2022

Auction Closed

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