1. About People
Francis Bacon

2. Enduring Understanding
Students will understand that artworks
do encapsulate the themes of
identity and relationships in a
variety of ways

3. 5W1H Francis Bacon When What Where How Why Which 1909 - 1992 Death
Distortion ?
Where UK
How
Painting
Distortion of Figures
Why
Photography
Picasso
Which
Figurative
expressionism

4. Essential Questions Overarching Questions What is a portrait?
How can relationships
within a family or
community be shaped?
How do artists form
identity and relationships
with their art?
Topical Questions
What is existence?
What is emptiness?
What is space?
How does photography
Engage us with our world?

5. Who 1909: Born in 28 October in Dublin, Ireland.
: He started work as an interior designer.
1935: He visited Paris and saw for the first of many times the movie Battleship Potemkin.
1992: He died at the age of 82 in Spain.

6. When 1914-18: World War I. 1916: Sinn Féin Movement
1925: The release of Sergei Eisenstein’s Battleship Potemkin.
1927: Picasso’s exhibition in at the Gallerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris.
1927: The release of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis.
: World War II.

7. Which Figurative Expressionism
First influenced by the works of Picasso.
Later by Surrealism.
His style is expressionistic.
He developed a distinctive style as a figure painter.
His signature- distorting his human form.
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.

8. What Subject Matter Human forms
His figures are usually distorted beyond recognition.
Animal forms
Crucifixion
This functions like an armature for him to suspend “all types of emotions and feelings” (Guggenheim). It has come to symbolize universal suffering and individual pain over the years.
Meat
Bacon saw connection between the “brutality of the slaughterhouses and crucifixion” (Guggenheim).
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.

9. What Theme The inescapable fact of death.
To quote him, “ I have a feeling of mortality all the time, because if life excites you, its opposite, like a shadow, death, must excite you.” (Schmied, 2006, p. 7)
Existential anxiety of modern man.
Human condition and suffering.
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.

10. His first original work.
Crucifixion, 1933
Oil on canvas, 62 x 48.5 cm
Private Collection
His first original work.

11. Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944
Oil and pastel on cardboard, 94 x 74 cm each
Tate Gallery, London

12. Second Version of Triptych 1944  1988 Oil and acrylic on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm each
Tate Gallery, London

13. What
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.
 Three Studies for a Crucifixion, Oil and acrylic on canvas, 198 x cm each
Tate Gallery, London

14. What- Three Studies for Figures…
The crucified figure on the right panel is slithering downwards resembling the Christ form from Cimabue’s Crucifixion.
His intention with the painting is to evoke emotionally and perceptually.
The figure is butchered open, like the
carcass of an animal.
This is similarly the fate of all humans
that we know but do not confront.
The slabs of meat on the left panel
reinforces this.
Ciment Fondu is cement. Advantages are quick and hard setting.
Crucifixion, c.1270s
By Giovanni Cimabue
Tempera on wood panel

15. Oil and pastel on linen, 197.8 x 132.1 cm
Painting, 1946
Oil and pastel on linen, x cm
MoMA, New York

16. Oil and tempera on wood, 100.3 x 75 cm
Head I, 1948
Oil and tempera on wood, x 75 cm
collection Richard S. Zeisler, New York

17. Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London
Head VI, 1949
Oil on canvas, 93 x 76.5 cm
Arts Council Collection, Hayward Gallery, London

18. Portrait of Pope Innocent X
by Diego Velázquez
Oil on canvas
Galleria Doria-Pamphili, Rome
Francis Bacon’s obsession with Velázquez’s painting generated a total of forty-five works on the Pope. Two recurring trademarks of his “Popes”- gaping mouth and elevation of the figure as if on a stage.

19. Why Influence- Diego Velázquez (16xx - )
A Spanish painter in the court of King Phillip IV.
He belonged to the Baroque period.
He painted many portraits of the Spanish royal family.
He also painted other notable European figures and commoners.
He also painted historical and cultural scenes.
His most famous work- Les Meninas, (see next slide).

20. Les Meninas Les Meninas, 1656-57 by Diego Velázquez
Oil on canvas, 318 x 276 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

21. The “Scream” Study after Velázquez, 1950 Oil on canvas, 198 x 137.2 cm
Study after Velázquez, 1950
Oil on canvas, 198 x cm
Private Collection
Battleship Potemkin has influence
many artists and film-makers.
Study for the Head of a Screaming Pope , 1952
Oil on canvas, 50 x 40.5 cm
Yale University, New Haven

22. Why His Influence- Edvard Munch (1863 – 1944)
A Norwegian Symbolist painter and printmaker.
A forerunner in Expressionistic art.
His exploration revolves around the theme of life, love, fear and death, as well as melancholy.
Symbolism- late 19th century art movement.
Attempts to depict the symbols of ideas and emotions- often ambiguous and mysterious rather then precise and forthcoming.

23. The Scream
The Scream, 1893
Oil tempera and pastel on cardboard, 48 x 44 cm
by Edvard Munch
National Gallery, Oslo, Norway

24. Inspired by van Gogh… Untitled (Landscape after Van Gogh), 1957
Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh V, 1957
oil and sand on canvas, 198 x 142 cm Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.
Study for Portrait of Van Gogh VI, 1957
oil on canvas, x cm London, Arts Council collection and Hayward Gallery
Untitled (Landscape after Van Gogh), 1957
oil on canvas, 127 x cm

25. Vincent van Gogh (1853 – 1890 ) The Painter on His Way to Work, 1888
by Vincent van Gogh
Oil on canvas, 48 x 44 cm
Destroyed by fire in WWII.

26. Study for Self Portrait
Study for Self Portrait, 1976 Oil and pastel on canvas,198 x cm
Art Gallery of New South Wales
“When I’m dead, put me in a plastic bag and throw me in the gutter.”
(Schmied, 2006, p.8)

27. Landscape near Malabata, 1963
In Memory of Peter Lacy
Landscape near Malabata, 1963
oil on canvas, x cm
Private Collection
Peter Lacy was one of his lovers who committed suicide. He died the night before the opening day of his major exhibition at Tate Gallery. Malabata, Tangier is the final resting place of Lacy.

28. In Memory of George Dryer
In Memory of Geroge Dryer, 1971

29. The “March”? Still from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis
Still from Fritz Lang’s Metropolis
Untitled (Marching Figures), c. 1950
Oil on canvas, 198 x 137cm
The Estate of Francis Bacon

30. Metropolis A German Science-fiction silent movie by Fritz Lang.
It is set in an urban dystopia (the opposite of utopia).
It explores the social issues of capitalism.
The theme and cinematic style relates to German Expressionism.

31. On Animals Study of a Baboon, 195. Oil on canvas, 198 x 137cm
MoMA, New York
Study for Chimpanzee, 1957
Oil and pastel on canvas, x 117cm
Peggy Guggenheim Collection

32. MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien
Man in Blue IV
Man in Blue IV, 1954
Oil on canvas, 198 x 137 cm
MUMOK, Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien
This is one of the seven paintings in a series, titled Man in Blue I – VII.
A treatment that is the most reductive.

33. Lying Figure in the Mirror*
Lying Figure in Mirror, 1971
oil on canvas, 198 x cm Museo de Bellas Artes de Bilbao,

34. Mirrors or Windows? Two Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer, 1968
oil on canvas, x cm Art Museum Ateneum, collection Sara Hildén, Helsinki
Study for a Nude with Figure in a Mirror, 1969
oil on canvas, 198 x cm private collection

35. oil and pastel on canvas, 198 x 147.5 cm
Landscape
Landscape, 1978
oil and pastel on canvas, 198 x cm
Private Collection

36. Ivor Braka Ltd (London)
A Piece of Waste Land
A Piece of Waste Land, 1982
oil on canvas, 198 x cm
Ivor Braka Ltd (London)

37. Why Inside Influence- His Background
His family shifted between England and Ireland in his early life- affected him with a sense of displacement throughout his life.
His grandmother’s house near Abbeyleix- bow-ended rooms (see slides ).
He was a shy child whose effeminacy enraged his father- their relationship was thus estranged.
His father was also known to be argumentative and quarrelsome.
He suffered from chronic asthma since young.
His sexual orientation- homosexual.

38. Why Inside Influence- His Background
He worked as an interior designer.
He volunteered in Civil Defence during World War II. His duties- fire-fighting, civilian rescue and recovery of the dead.
His trip to Africa where his mother and sisters emigrated to.
Bacon led a bohemian life- of alcohol, gambling and a string of intimate and anguished relationships, some were even self-destructive.

39. Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards
oil on canvas, 198 x cm (each) private collection

40. Spot the pattern… Study for Portrait of Lucian Freud (Sideways), 1971
Oil on canvas, 198 x cm
Private Collection
Figure in Movement, 1976
oil on canvas, 198 x cm private collection
Self-Portrait, 1973
oil on canvas, 198 x cm private collection

41. Studies of the Human Body –Triptych, 1970
Interior Design
Studies of the Human Body –Triptych, 1970
The Centre Piece
Study for Portrait, 1970

42. Why Outside Influences
Nicolas Poussin’s Massacre of the Innocents- great impact on him (see slides 45 & 48).
He visited Picasso’s exhibition in 1927 at the Gallerie Paul Rosenberg, Paris.
The poems of T.S. Elliot and his play The Family Reunion.
The Oresteia- Greek trilogy written by Aeschylus, especially W.B. Stanford’s translation. It is about the bloody chain of murder and revenge within a royal family. The underworld mythical agents known as Furies inspired Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion.
Photography is a salient influence
Eadweard Muybridge (see slides 50 & 51).

43. Why Outside Influence- Nicolas Poussin (1594 – 1665)
A classical artist of 17th century France.
At 18, he left Normandy for Paris where he developed a love for the works of classical antiquity.
He arrived in Rome, Italy in 1624 and lived the rest of his life there.
His subject matter- mythologies, landscapes and biblical scenes.
His works eventually formed the basis of Academic painting in France for the next two centuries.

44. Massacre of the Innocents
Massacre of the Innocents, c
by Nicolas Poussin
Oil on canvas, 147 x 171 cm
Château de Chantilly (Musée Condé)
The screaming mother trying to protect her infant- “probably the best human cry ever painted.”

45. More works on the incident…
The Holy Innocents,
by Giotto di Bondone (c )
Fresco, South Wall
Scrovegni (also Arena) Chapel, Padua Italy

46. What
An incident that appears in the Gospel of Matthew (one of the scriptures of the New Testament).
It refers to the infanticide by Herod the Great (a Roman client king of Judaea).
Herod ordered the execution of all young male children in Bethlehem, to counter-defend his throne from the prophesized “new king of the Jews”.

47. Photography Photography as a phenomenon.
His studio was strewn with photographs- pinned on the walls, on the floor, piled along with empty tubes of paint.
Photography as a means to study the real world, closely and then capture reality with greater intensity.
As a result, it became an instrument for him to distort reality rather than reproducing photo in detail with precise accuracy like the Pop artists, or embarking on a journey that focus on the “essence” of things like the abstract artists.
One captivating quality of photography for Bacon is its ability to capture and depict movement.
John Deakin’s portraits of other close friends like Lucian Freud and others.

48. Influenced by Eadweard Muybridge
Dog,1952
Oil on canvas, 198 x 137 cm
Tate Gallery, London
Man with Dog,1953
Oil on canvas, x cm
The Albright-Knox Gallery, New York
Muybridge’s Animals in Motion

49. His Nudes Untitled (Two Figures in the Grass, c. 1952
Oil on canvas, x cm
The Estate of Francis Bacon
The human figure in motion
by Muybridge.
Two Figures, 1953
Oil on canvas, x cm
Private Collection

50. 20th Century- An Age of Violence
Technological progress.
The horrors of human nature.
Modern-day problems- television sets, hypodermic syringes

51. How
He painted on unprimed side of the canvas. He discovered that this held the paint with “more bite”, texture ended up enhanced and allowed the thinner to soak into the canvas.
He liked to present his works in diptychs or triptychs which are traditional forms of religious paintings for the purpose of disjoining the narrative.
He worked with easels despite the changing time.

52. How
He distorted his figures, influenced by the biomorphs of Picasso’s works.
The human flesh is depicted as nothing but meat.
His background depicts some interior setting.
He provided viewers in his works a tremendous experience of space- the use of mirrors/windows, indeterminate space, shadows and ambiguity.

53. Resources
Schmied, W. (2006) Francis Bacon, Commitment and Conflict. Prestel Verlaq: Munich.