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)

Metropolitan triptych - partie droite, 1981

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan triptych - partie droite, 1981

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Oedipe et le Sphinx, 1984

Francis Bacon

Oedipe et le Sphinx, 1984

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Metropolitan triptych - partie centrale, 1981

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan triptych - partie centrale, 1981

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Étude pour un portrait du Pape Innocent X..., 1989

Francis Bacon

Étude pour un portrait du Pape Innocent X..., 1989

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Triptych, 1983, 1983

Francis Bacon

Triptych, 1983, 1983

Sale Date: May 7, 2023

Auction Closed

Metropolitan triptych - partie gauche, 1981

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan triptych - partie gauche, 1981

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Deuxième version du Triptyque

Francis Bacon

Deuxième version du Triptyque

Sale Date: May 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Self-Portrait, 1969

Francis Bacon

Self-Portrait, 1969

Sale Date: May 11, 2023

Auction Closed

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Sale Date: April 29, 2023

Auction Closed

Étude pour une Corrida, after Study for..., 1971

Francis Bacon

Étude pour une Corrida, after Study for..., 1971

Sale Date: April 19, 2023

Auction Closed

Second Version of the Triptych 1944, 1989

Francis Bacon

Second Version of the Triptych 1944, 1989

Sale Date: April 20, 2023

Auction Closed

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Francis Bacon

Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975

Sale Date: April 18, 2023

Auction Closed

Etude pour une corrida (d'après Study for a..., 1971

Francis Bacon

Etude pour une corrida (d'après Study for a..., 1971

Sale Date: March 30, 2023

Auction Closed

Self Portrait, 1977

Francis Bacon

Self Portrait, 1977

Sale Date: March 23, 2023

Auction Closed

Oresteia of Aeschylus, 1981

Francis Bacon

Oresteia of Aeschylus, 1981

Sale Date: March 28, 2023

Auction Closed

Studies of the Human Body (S. 34; T. 10), 1980

Francis Bacon

Studies of the Human Body (S. 34; T. 10), 1980

Sale Date: March 15, 2023

Auction Closed

Triptyque Août 1972 (Sabatier 23; Tacou 24), 1979

Francis Bacon

Triptyque Août 1972 (Sabatier 23; Tacou 24), 1979

Sale Date: March 15, 2023

Auction Closed

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

Francis Bacon

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

Sale Date: March 15, 2023

Auction Closed

TRIPTYCH, 1986–1987

Francis Bacon

TRIPTYCH, 1986–1987

Sale Date: March 8, 2023

Auction Closed

Portrait of Peter Beard, 1976

Francis Bacon

Portrait of Peter Beard, 1976

Sale Date: March 16, 2023

Auction Closed

After Second Version of Painting 1946, 1971

Francis Bacon

After Second Version of Painting 1946, 1971

Sale Date: March 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Second Version, Triptych 1944, 1989

Francis Bacon

Second Version, Triptych 1944, 1989

Sale Date: March 16, 2023

Auction Closed

Seated Figure, 1983

Francis Bacon

Seated Figure, 1983

Sale Date: March 9, 2023

Auction Closed

Trois études de dos d'homme (une oeuvre, sujet 2

Francis Bacon

Trois études de dos d'homme (une oeuvre, sujet 2

Sale Date: March 3, 2023

Auction Closed

Previous 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Next

English (US)

©2023 Artnet Worldwide Corporation. All rights reserved.