Francis Bacon

Dublin (Ireland), 1909 – Madrid (Spain), 1992

Francis Bacon, a painter renowned for his distinctive figurative style characterized by pictorial deformation and intentional ambiguity, was a prolific artist with 584 paintings and around 600 drawings recorded. Born into a well-to-do English family in Dublin as the second of five brothers, Bacon’s childhood was marked by loneliness and chronic asthma. His strict military father expelled him from the house at age 16 upon discovering his homosexuality.

After experiencing rejection during his adolescence, Bacon moved to Germany during the Roaring Twenties. Berlin, its capital, became a social, cultural, and sexual revelation for the young Francis.

In 1925, he settled in London, initially working as a furniture designer and interior decorator. However, in 1931, he abandoned this career for painting, drawn to the works of Nicolas Poussin (founder of 17th-century French classical painting) and Pablo Ruiz Picasso. As a self-taught artist, he began drawing and painting watercolours.

Bacon held his first solo exhibition in 1934. Disappointed by its reception, he temporarily stopped painting and destroyed many of his works.

During the Second World War, Bacon worked for the Civil Defence Service in London. Unable to join the military due to asthma, he did not return to painting until 1944.

Bacon used the human figure as the central motif in his work, subjecting it to deformations unknown in prior Expressionism. These images convey his sense of isolation and claustrophobia. As both an artist and a chronicler of his life, Bacon depicted human suffering, violence, and degradation. His subjects often appear writhing, isolated, and disfigured in environments of supposed wellbeing.

Bacon is known to have had three significant relationships. He lived life fully, often taking considerable risks. His homosexuality, masochism, and destructively incorrigible nature led him to nightly excursions into a dangerous underworld of fights, alcohol, and tobacco. These experiences often inspired new works the next day.

Exhibited Works

• "Three Studies for a self-portrait", engraving, 1979.