09/09/2021 Author: admin
In early 2022, the Royal Academy of Arts hosted ‘Francis Bacon: Man and Beast’, a landmark exhibition exploring the artist’s profound and moving paintings, where the line between human and animal is constantly blurred—reminding us that our primal instincts lie just below the surface.
Described by the Financial Times as ‘one of the most eagerly awaited shows’, it was the first major Bacon exhibition in London in more than a decade, bringing together rarely loaned paintings from private collections.
The show spanned Bacon’s 50-year career, from his earliest works to the very last painting he ever completed—offering a rare, full-circle view of one of Britain’s most influential artists.
Seen together, these paintings convey a sense of visual panic that can leave the viewer with a deep feeling of unease. What is so striking about Bacon’s work, particularly the monumental triptychs, is how each canvas is “designed with precision”. His figures are carefully balanced and contained, isolated within geometric shapes, while Bacon’s almost classical powers of composition heighten the sense of confinement—as though the human and animal figures are being protected from his often violent, tragic imagery.
The bullfighting paintings capture the charged, almost erotic tension between bullfighter and bull. After a long, drawn-out ‘parade’, the bull is left to meet its fate, dragged helplessly around the dusty arena as swirls of blood mark the sand. Bacon’s laden brush echoes this final death throe, swishing across an unprimed canvas, while large areas of bright orange reflect the sun’s intense heat and emphasise the vibrant colours of the bullring.
Triptych August, 1972 – The Black Triptychs
Often called The Black Triptych, this work followed the death of George Dyer, Bacon’s partner of seven years. Bacon, in mourning, was acutely aware of the tenuous link between life and death, and painted Dyer many times afterwards. In its display caption for Triptych–August 1972, the Tate Gallery wrote that “what death has not already consumed seeps incontinently out of the figures as their shadows.”
Many consider this triptych to be Bacon’s finest work—and it is certainly one of our favourites.
You can still explore highlights from the show via the Royal Academy’s exhibition archive.
Triptych – Study of the Human Body, 1970
Opening Photographic image: Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus, 1981 and Second Version of Triptych 1944, 1988.
Bold, expressive artwork like Bacon’s is a wonderful source of inspiration for interiors that dare to make a statement. Browse our Gallery to see how statement pattern and colour can transform a room, or explore the dramatic, richly patterned Gentleman’s Club collection to bring that same sense of bold character home.
