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)

Portrait Of Peter Beard, 1976

Francis Bacon

Portrait Of Peter Beard, 1976

Sale Date: November 17, 2022

Auction Closed

Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres, 1983

Francis Bacon

Oedipus and the Sphinx after Ingres, 1983

Sale Date: November 30, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych., 1981

Francis Bacon

Triptych., 1981

Sale Date: November 17, 2022

Auction Closed

The Human Body (Study for the Metropolitan..., 1975

Francis Bacon

The Human Body (Study for the Metropolitan..., 1975

Sale Date: November 26, 2022

Auction Closed

Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1964

Francis Bacon

Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1964

Sale Date: November 16, 2022

Auction Closed

Réponse I-III, 1989

Francis Bacon

Réponse I-III, 1989

Sale Date: November 11, 2022

Auction Closed

Three Studies for Self-Portrait, 1979

Francis Bacon

Three Studies for Self-Portrait, 1979

Sale Date: November 9, 2022

Auction Closed

LYING FIGURE

Francis Bacon

Sale Date: November 1, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych: one print, 1981

Francis Bacon

Triptych: one print, 1981

Sale Date: October 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Triptych: one print, 1981

Francis Bacon

Triptych: one print, 1981

Sale Date: October 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Seated Figure, 1983

Francis Bacon

Seated Figure, 1983

Sale Date: October 28, 2022

Auction Closed

Étude pour un portrait de John Edwards..., 1987

Francis Bacon

Étude pour un portrait de John Edwards..., 1987

Sale Date: October 25, 2022

Auction Closed

Corner of the Studio, 1934

Francis Bacon

Corner of the Studio, 1934

Sale Date: October 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Rug, 'Composition', 1929

Francis Bacon

Rug, 'Composition', 1929

Sale Date: October 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Composition, 1933

Francis Bacon

Composition, 1933

Sale Date: October 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Figure Crouching'

Francis Bacon

Figure Crouching'

Sale Date: October 24, 2022

Auction Closed

Studies of the Human Body, 1980

Francis Bacon

Studies of the Human Body, 1980

Sale Date: October 27, 2022

Auction Closed

Portrait Of Michel Leiris, 1990

Francis Bacon

Portrait Of Michel Leiris, 1990

Sale Date: October 5, 2022

Auction Closed

Portrait Michel Leiris, 1990

Francis Bacon

Portrait Michel Leiris, 1990

Sale Date: November 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Lying Figure (Reclining Figure), 1967

Francis Bacon

Lying Figure (Reclining Figure), 1967

Sale Date: November 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Miroir de la Tauromachie., 1990

Francis Bacon

Miroir de la Tauromachie., 1990

Sale Date: November 12, 2022

Auction Closed

Painting 1990, 1990

Francis Bacon

Painting 1990, 1990

Sale Date: October 13, 2022

Auction Closed

Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1963

Francis Bacon

Three Studies for Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1963

Sale Date: October 14, 2022

Auction Closed

Masque Mortuaire De William Blake, 1991

Francis Bacon

Masque Mortuaire De William Blake, 1991

Sale Date: October 12, 2022

Auction Closed

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