Through howling popes and dissolving flesh, Francis Bacon's most haunting works expose the visceral depths of human experience. By exploring some of Bacon’s most pivotal paintings, we understand how the artist transforms paint into raw sensation, creating images that resonate with primal force, haunting in their unflinching truth. The paintings are illuminated by Bacon's own words, drawn from his candid 1991-92 conversations with photographer Francis Giacobetti in London—some of his final and most revealing reflections on art, mortality, and the impulse to paint our darkest truths.
Through eerie distortions and unsettling imagery, the artist offers a glimpse into the psychological landscapes of fear, isolation and the human condition.
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Francis Giacobetti captures Bacon (1991-92) suspended in space, mirroring the hanging meat that populated his most haunting works. (Courtesy of Assouline)
Left: Figure with Meat 1954 (Courtesy of WikiArt); Right: Bacon photographed by Francis Giacobetti during their intimate 1991-92 interviews in London (Courtesy of Assouline). The haunting resonance between Bacon's painted subjects and his own portrait speaks to the artist's lifelong preoccupation with depicting the raw essence of human existence and his fascination with meat.
Left: Study after Velázquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X (1953 (Courtesy of WikiArt)); Right: Velázquez's original portrait shown in red - the color Bacon always envisioned it, despite painting his version in purple and gold (Courtesy of Assouline). "My retina still retains the strong impression of scarlet," he said of his obsession with the painting.
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944), featuring Bacon's grotesque Furies against an apocalyptic orange backdrop. The triptych's twisted forms, caught between human and beast, embodied the collective trauma of a world emerging from unprecedented horror. (Courtesy of WikiArt)
Left: Painting (1946), depicting a figure caught between executioner and victim (Courtesy of WikiArt); Right: "Veal Head with Reflections," echoing the butcher shop displays that inspired much of Bacon's work (Courtesy of Assouline).
Left: Two Figures (1953), Bacon's provocative transformation of scientific photography into raw human intimacy (Courtesy of WikiArt). Right: Eadweard Muybridge's motion studies that served as Bacon's inspiration, demonstrating how the artist could extract profound emotion from clinical source material (Courtesy of Assouline).
Triptych August 1972 (1972). A spectral portrait of George Dyer, Bacon's lover, painted after his suicide in Paris. The triptych captures Dyer's figure dissolving across three panels, marking his tragic final moments. (Courtesy of WikiArt)
: Left: Study for Portrait (1952), one of Bacon's iconic "screaming" businessmen (Courtesy of WikiArt); Right: Francis Bacon photographed by Francis Giacobetti (1991-92, Courtesy of Assouline). "We scream at birth, when we are hurt, when we climax, when we die," Bacon observed of his obsession with the open mouth, seeing it as the most primal expression of human existence.