"Bacon has a deep realistic sense of life. He is a man...: mi3ch

Watching the film "Love is the Devil" about the dramatic relationship between the English artist Francis Bacon and his lover, George Dyer, gave me some thoughts. About how relevant the distribution of gender roles has remained in modern society, and this phenomenon acquires one new characteristic in the third millennium - voyeurism.

The desire to see and enjoy everyday the “right image of a person” has been inherent in people throughout the history of civilization. The voyeuristic aesthetics of the sexes has always served as a mechanism for gaining comfort in the society of their own kind, giving the opportunity to be “beautiful”, so to speak, to be equal among equals. Isn't it a convenient and very strong motivation?

But the price of implementing such aesthetics in practice is too expensive for a person. Everyone knows the side effects. Frustrations, complexes caused by the daily visual expansion of the "correct" gender behavior, multiplied by forced voyeurism, the standards of beauty of your gender, lead to a modern pandemic - depression. A person falls into a vicious circle of addiction of sexism, the desire to please and be attractive to many.

Sexism, long ago crossed the imaginary boundary of belonging to heterosexual sexual behavior, and took root as the dominant prerogative in male homosexuality. Perhaps in this competition of sexism in our era, homosexuality was able to get a "laurel wreath" in the competition with heterosexuality.

The story of Francis Bacon and George Dyer illustrates how the new gender patterns of behavior of the sexes lead to a dead end. Bacon, who was neither handsome nor athletic, being the complete opposite of the sexist cult of masculinity, including in behavior, ironically called himself "the old painted faggot."

But …. Bacon has learned to live with the fact that the aesthetics of sexuality do not fit within the community of people who have made their choice of sexual identity.

It can be said that for many homosexual contemporaries, Bacon's mannerisms were something of a mockery of the very nature of male homosexuality. But, here the second “but” appears, Bacon was a well-formed personality, not only able to accept his sexuality, or rather its comicality, but first of all to work on his personality as an artist, leaving sexuality as a phenomenon of everyday order and acquiring the cherished asexuality, only for a while, time when a creative act of art made it possible to know oneself as a person not tied to sexual characteristics.

The tragedy of Dyer lies only in the fact that he could not become a person. George Dyer, chose to be an ordinary homosexual, gender correct. Muscular and athletic, with emphasized social behavior of a man who does not give reason to doubt his “non-male sexual orientation”. Dyer simply lived his sexuality as an everyday habit based on gender role.

That's just, being with a strong personality like Bacon, even if such a voyeuristically incorrect for the gay community, without "4-dice", biceps and triceps, dyeing eyelashes, he could not become a person himself. Dyer's suicide attempts, and Bacon's fatigue from them, is not caused by indifference, but Dyer's inability to accept the ancient understanding of homosexuality according to Plato.

Dyer, of course, was the muse of the genius of Bacon, but the muse "on call". And only perhaps at these moments, when Bacon wrote another image of his beloved, Dyer felt that he was becoming a person ... But, alas, the dissonance of this feeling led Dyer to the abyss, which consisted in the fact that in real life he is only a sexual partner.

PS: Bacon exhibition in New York, Francis books a ticket for George, commenting on his presence in public as "let them think that this is my bodyguard" .... And in truth, the presence of strong muscles and muscular-brutal behavior next to a genius cannot be perceived differently.

Specially for "Russian Monitor"

Vaclav Yutash-Zyuzin.

Carried away by reading John Richardson, the biographer of Picasso, I followed some links to Bacon. In general terms, I knew his work, but somehow I never delved into the details of his biography. And then, step by step, he began to fall into such biographical jungle that he involuntarily became carried away. For example, I was fascinated by the history of writing his famous triptych - "Three studies at the feet of the Crucifixion" (1944). However, all this can be interesting only to those who are somehow interested in contemporary art. Immersed in the biography of Bacon, I began to peer into his portraits and into the faces of his friends - hence the large volume of photographs turned out, which I posted everything out of greed. So maybe don't rush to open the page...

The artist Fraensis Bacon is not only the full namesake of the philosopher (1561-1626), but also his direct descendant. In 1925, his parents kicked him out of the house. A year later, his father sent him to Berlin under the supervision of his uncle. Bacon moved to Paris two months later, where he studied French and worked as a decorator and designer. After visiting the Picasso exhibition (1927), he decided to become an artist, returned to London and set up a workshop in one of the garages, in the South Kensington area, where he worked until 1932. In 1946, his work "Painting 1946" was bought by the German gallery owner Erica Brausen for $200. With this sum, Bacon left for Monte Carlo and stayed there until 1950. Then, until 1960, he lived in Tangier (Morocco), where he became friends with William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. In 1960, in the same area, in South Kensington, where before, he set up a new workshop, where he worked until his death (now there is a Bacon Museum). In the 1960s, Bacon was already showered with honors and prizes, which he usually refuses: for example, Bacon gave the Rubens Prize for the restoration of Renaissance Florentine painting.

1. Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (1944):

“These are really my first paintings. Before that, I did a lot of things. But then he destroyed everything he could. I showed these works for the first time at the Lefebvre Gallery in 1946. Everyone absolutely hated them then. I think they hate them now. I was going to make a whole crucifix then, and these works would be images around him, but I never did the rest ... " Francis Bacon, Carcasses and crucifixes, The Times, Monday May 20, 1985.

“Bacon worked on this triptych during the last years of the war. He admitted that at that time he fell under the influence of Picasso, but went further in the distortion of organic forms that are associated with the human image. The triptych was met with hostility, with one critic writing that Bacon discovered "the art of the painter in execution of a death sentence, just as his immediate predecessors called the art of lampshades made of human skin." He caused a shock with his work." Michael Peppiatt, Francis Bacon in the 1950s, Yale University Press, 2006.

“Finding Bacon was difficult. Nobody knew him or his work. After a long search, I finally found someone who knew Bacon, it was the artist Michael Wishart. My intuition was correct. The youthful man turned out to be Francis Bacon, and the house opposite ours belonged to his cousin, Miss Watson, who owned everything that was left of the hundred paintings that Francis had destroyed. "Forget about her," Michael said, "go and meet Francis." Francis lived across the street from South Kensington Station in a huge, dingy studio that had once belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Milla. Michael told me about the underground parties that Francis, who was an experienced croupier, liked to organize here. In addition, he spoke about local drinking and love for fishnet stockings.

What he didn't mention was that Francis had a blind old nanny, Jessie Lightfoot, who knitted in a rocking chair and muttered all the time about the sinfulness of the Duchess of Windsor: "The best thing for her is the gallows." At night, the kitchen table turned into her bed. And I suddenly realized that it was Nanny Lightfoot who gave Francis the idea for the central part of his early masterpiece Three Studies of the Figures at the Feet of the Crucifixion. It must have been she who taught him the game that many old nannies (including mine) taught their wards in previous years: how to turn a fist into a face. It was necessary to make a fist, hold a stick with your fingertips, the ends of which should be pulled out between the middle and forefinger, and later drape the fist with a handkerchief, after which it turned into exactly the same head as was depicted in the picture of Bacon. I thought it wise to keep this discovery to myself." John Richardson, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1999.

It is believed that these three figures, some biomorphic creatures painted under the influence of Picasso, convey Bacon's feelings from the just ended World War II and are for the artist the symbols of Erinyes (Eumenides) - the goddesses of avengers from ancient mythology, who in the tragedy of Aeschylus "Eumenides" Orestes was persecuted for the murder of his mother, Cletemnestra. Later, Bacon created a separate cycle and called it "Triptych based on Aeschylus' Oresteia". The theme of retribution, persecution never left him and was closely connected with the circumstances of his life.

Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion 1944

2. Biography in pictures

Francis Bacon in Vogue 1952 by John Deakin

Figure with Meat 1954 Francis Bacon

In 1952, Bacon met former RAF fighter pilot Peter Lacy. In the mid-1950s, Lacy moved to Tangier, where Bacon followed him. Lacy was the subject of a number of paintings by Bacon. Their relationship lasted until 1962, the year of Lacey's death.

Peter Lacy

Francis Bacon and the Moroccan painter Ahmed Yacoubi in Tangier, 1956

Bacon did not draw from nature, but photographed interesting people and then made his own painting from photographs.

with Lucien Freud 1953

Francis Bacon and Cecil Beaton 1960

A 1962 Irving Penn photograph of Francis Bacon with a Rembrandt self-portrait.

Francis Bacon in 1963 by Bill Brandt

Francis Bacon in 1979 by Dmitri Kasterine

Francis Bacon at the Claude Bernard Gallery in 1977 by John Minihan

Francis Bacon outside the Claude Bernard Gallery in 1977 John Minihan

Francis Bacon at the Claude Bernard Gallery Paris in 1977 by John Minihan

Francis Bacon in the kitchen of 7 Reece Mews in 1984 by John Minihan

Francis Bacon by James Hyman

Bacon in his studio. Its walls usually served as a palette for the artist.

3. George Dyer

On July 1, 2008, the rarest work by Francis Bacon (1909-1992) "Sketch of the Head of George Dyer" was put up for auction at Sotheby's.

This painting is one of the few known lifetime portraits of Bacon's beloved George Dyer. It was written in 1967, when the artist was at the peak of his creativity. George Dyer's Head Sketch was based on a photograph by John Deakin taken in the late 1940s. Bacon and Deakin were regulars at the Colony Room in Soho, where the photographer took many portraits of the artist's friends and drinking companions. Many of Deakin's photographs served as the basis for Bacon's famous portraits of London bohemia. According to the artist, it was much easier for him to paint portraits from memory, having only photographs as a visual support.

Bacon met George Dyer in the autumn of 1963 in a bar in London's bohemian Soho district. When they met in 1964, Bacon was already a well-known artist. Dyer was a native of the proletarian East End. Dyer was not very educated and by that time had already served several terms in prison for theft and petty crimes. But he was very handsome and well-dressed, which soon allowed him to take the place of Bacon's beloved man Peter Lacy, who died in 1962. The relationship between Bacon and Dyer lasted almost seven years. The artist often had to rescue his friend from dubious situations. In addition, Dyer suffered from paranoia, alcoholism and depression. On October 24, 1971, on the eve of the Francis Bacon retrospective at the Grand Palais, he committed suicide in a hotel room. Dyer had tried to commit suicide several times before, but Bacon always saved him at the very last moment.

Bacon and George Dyer

George Dyer and Bacon

George Dyer

Francis Bacon. Portrait of George Dyer. 1968
Photo from Tate Britain catalog

George Dyer in the reece mews studio, 1964

Two Figures 1953 Francis Bacon

Dyer died from an overdose of brandy and sleeping pills (he died sitting on the toilet in a Paris hotel). “If I had stayed with him, instead of thinking about the exhibition, he would be here now,” the artist later said. Guilt will haunt him for the rest of his life. Bacon painted Dyer regularly in the past and continued to do so after his death. He said it was a way of remembering him.

After Bacon's death, 129 photographs of George Dyer were discovered in his studio (Bacon never painted portraits from life, using only photos), but only two lifetime portraits of a man whom many researchers of Bacon's life and work consider the most important in the artist's life are known.

After Dyer's death, Bacon devoted all his works to the memory of his friend. The monumental "Triptych, 1976" was no exception, which was bought at Sotheby's by Roman Abramovich in May for 86 million 281 thousand dollars - this was a record amount both for Bacon himself and for the work of the post-war period as a whole.

Dyer's death was also the subject of Bacon's most grandiose work, The May-June 1972 Triptych: on one of the side panels, a stained, distorted figure of Dyer sits on a toilet bowl; on the other - Dyer pukes in the sand. The central panel depicts Dyer disappearing into the darkness...

In 2002, English director John Maybury filmed the psychological drama Love Is the Devil about the relationship between Bacon and Dyer. The role of Dyer in the film was played by actor Daniel Craig, who became the "current" James Bond. Bacon's diary, which mentions the suicide of George Dyer, recently sold at auction for £2,000 ($4,000). The study "Sketch of the head of George Dyer" was sold for 13.7 million pounds (27.4 million dollars).

4. John Edwards

By 1974, Bacon met John Edwards, who first became his new model, and then his heir. Like Dyer in his time, Edwards met Bacon at the Colony Club in Soho. This was due to his older brother David Edwards, who was a friend of Muriel Belcher.

Bacon with John Edwards in the early 1970s.

From the mid-1970s, John Edwards became Bacon's companion, namely a companion, an adopted son, and not a lover. Unlike George Dyer, a petty criminal, or Peter Lacy, who played the piano in late-night bars, Edwards was neither suicidal nor drunk. It became Bacon's "wisest decision" of the last period. Bacon began to trust Edwards in everything, especially in "weeding" the artist's not always adequate environment. Bacon's friends had no choice but to accept Edwards. Although reluctantly.

John Edwards

John Edwards became not only Bacon's closest assistant, but later his only heir and distributor of the artist's property. In 1998 he donated the entire contents of the Reece Mews studio in South Kensington (including photographs, sketches, etc.) to the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin. (Edvarads asked Bacon - "How could you work here? It's so terrible here!" - "I was happy here..." Bacon answered him.)

When they met, Edwards was twenty-six, Bacon was forty years older than him. To some extent, Edwards really became the son of Bacon. But for us it is more important that Edwards became the "hero" of more than twenty paintings by Bacon ... Edwards was devastated by the death of drgua and soon after it moved from London, first to Florida, and then to Thailand (1993). He loved Thailand and his home near Pattaya. He even founded and partially funded a shelter to care for local homeless animals.

In 1997, worried about the way the Marlborough Gallery was keeping track of his legacy, Edwards turned to his artist friend Brian Clark for help. Clark helped him get in touch with the appropriate legal representative and handled all the long legal battles that followed. Unfortunately, Edwards, who was fifty-two and looked much younger than his years, died in 2002 from cancer. The only one who was by his side during his last hours was Brian Clark.
After the death of John Edwards, Bacon's inheritance passed to his companion Philip Mordua, a twenty-seven-year-old young man of dubious reputation.

When Bacon was offered the title, he refused. “I believe in orderly chaos,” he declared, “hard rules of chance.” He died on April 28, 1992 in Madrid from a myocardial infarction, immediately after his death becoming a cult figure in Britain and becoming the most expensive contemporary artist in the world.

P.S.
Details of Bacon's biography can be found on his

Bacon Francis Pictures and biography of Francis Bacon Francis Bacon (October 28, 1909, Dublin - April 28, 1992, Madrid) was an English expressionist painter. Born in Dublin in the family of a retired military man, tough and authoritarian man; Bacon's mother was a cultured and educated woman. In 1911 the family moved to London. Frequent moving and illness (asthma) prevented Francis from receiving a systematic education. In the spring of 1927, Bacon went to Berlin to visit relatives. Although Bacon is passionate about this city, six months later he appears in Paris at Montparnasse, where he studies French and works as a designer and decorator. A visit to the Picasso exhibition in 1927 had a decisive influence on him - he begins to paint and, upon returning to London, arranges a workshop in one of the garages in the South Kensington area; He worked there until 1932.

In 1933, Francis Bacon wrote his first Crucifixion. The artist's painting was exhibited in a London gallery and entered the Art New catalog. In 1944, the painting "Three studies of figures at the feet of the Crucifixion" is exhibited in the Lefevre and Tate galleries and causes great resonance.

In 1946 Bacon left for Monte Carlo and worked there until 1950. Then he taught for some time at the Royal College of Art in London and worked until 1958 with the Hanover Gallery. In 1955 - the first retrospective exhibition of Bacon at the Institute of Modern Arts in London.

By 1962, a retrospective of the artist's work was held at the Tate Gallery. The following year, Francis Bacon meets Georges Dyer, who becomes the model for many of his works. In 1964 he painted the triptych "Three Figures in a Room", in 1965 the triptych "Crucifixion" (National Gallery of Modern Art, Munich). Retrospectives of paintings at the Guggenheim Museum and at the Institute of Contemporary Art of Chicago. In 1964-1967 he painted women's portraits (not characteristic of Bacon's work) - portraits and studies of Isabelle Rausthorn, Henrietta Moraes and others. In the 1960s, Bacon was showered with many prizes and honors.

He gives the Rubens Prize for the restoration of Florentine Renaissance painting. Untitled, 1944 Tate Gallery, LondonMagdalena, 1946 Private collection Figure in a Landscape, 1945 Tate Gallery, London Painting, 1946 Private collection Fragment of the Crucifixion, 1950 Hanover Gallery, LondonAfter Velasquez, 1950 Shafrazi Collection, New York In 1968 - the first trip to New York, "Triptych on the theme of the poem by Thomas Eliot", 1967. In 1971 - a retrospective in the Grand Palace, in Paris: over 100 paintings and 11 triptychs. In the same year, in connection with the death of Georges Dyer, Francis Bacon painted the triptych "In Memory of Georges Dyer". Portraits and representation of Dyer's death are also in a number of other works.

By 1974, he met John Edwards, who becomes his new model and heir. Bacon makes another trip to New York (artist's exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art) and meets Andy Warhol (1975).

He also exhibited in Madrid and Barcelona (1978). The triptych "Aeschylus' Oresteia", 1981 is one of the important works of this period. In the late 1980s, Bacon exhibited in East Berlin and even in Moscow (1988). Francis Bacon died in Madrid on April 28, 1992 from a heart attack. Woman 1960Portrait of Lucian Freud, 1965Henrietta Moraes in Red, 1965Portrait of Isabelle Rausthorn, 1967Figure in a Mirror 1969 Figures in a Bed 1972Sleeping Man 1974Portrait of a Dwarf 1975Figures in Motion 1976Painting 1978 Bacon's painting conveys the tragedy of existence . This is a kind of cry that has no limits and boundaries; painting action. Magma of bodies: neither animals, nor people - lonely sprawled figures.

With his brush, Bacon turns people into freaks, one-eyed, armless, chopped-off monsters. Bacon's painting is always on the verge of risk, expressive and improvisational. Nevertheless, Bacon's attempt to organize space is constantly present: perspective, horizon line, parameters of three-dimensional space (like a cage or an aquarium). If Bacon's early works are rather dark, then in the future they become more active in color and even decorative (yellow, lingonberry, cherry, orange color tones are the artist's favorite; less often - cold, where black, dark blue, gray-green are preferred) .

All the energy, expressiveness of Bacon's painting is in sculptural form, in the breaks of forms, in a kind of mass, like lava. Associated with fluidity is deformation, which in Bacon's painting seems natural and necessary. On May 14, 2008, Francis Bacon's 1976 Landmark of the Canonical 20th Century triptych sold at Sotheby's in the Contemporary Art category for $86.3 million. Sold by the Muy family, owners of Château Pétrus wine production, to Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich. This sale became a worldwide sensation.

$ 86 million for the Francis Bacon triptych of the year turned out to be a record for the auction house Sotheby`s, for the first time in its 350-year history that it sold a thing at its public auction for such an unimaginable amount. And the painter, who died in 1992, received the title of the most expensive post-war artist and took third place in the top ten most expensive artists in the world in general, beating both Van Gogh and Rubens, losing only to Picasso and Klimt. Probably, had Francis Bacon lived to this point, he would have been happy to be in such a company, because Picasso and Van Gogh were his idols, not to mention Velasquez, who did not make it to the list of “art forbes” (his works are simply not on the market). Bacon, in defiance of his experimental era, thought of himself as more of an "old master" than a subverter of traditions.

He was considered a modern classic already in the late 70s, and in 1988 they even made him a big exhibition in the then rather conservative Moscow - in the Central House of Artists, where the notorious triptych was also exhibited. Of course, Francis Bacon's classics are purely modernist - with broken forms, nervous strokes and as if space turned inside out. But still, an artist who in 1976 would have been inspired by the myth of Prometheus, and it was this ancient plot that formed the basis of the record-breaking triptych, still had to be looked for. Three studies of figures at the Crucifixion, triptych, 1962Triptych on the theme of the poem by T. S.

Eliot, 1967 In memory of Georges Dyer, triptych, 1971 Aeschylus Oresteia, triptych, 1981 Art of France. Parisian painters, sculptors, architects, engravers.

History of foreign art. From the era of the Romanesque style and Gothic of the Middle Ages to the present.

Francis Bacon is undoubtedly the brightest personality in the painting of England in the second half of the 20th century. His creative genius and incredible talent, combined with his colossal capacity for work, made it possible to achieve unprecedented heights in art. The paintings of Francis Bacon are highly valued by both professional art historians and connoisseurs of modern painting. Ordinary inhabitants who are interested in art and creativity, for the most part, also have a positive attitude towards the works of the artist.

Francis Bacon: biography

One of the greatest artists of our time was born in 1909 in the Irish city of Dublin (now the capital of the country). His father was a retired military man. However, he most likely adopted his craving for knowledge and art from his mother, who had been interested in this all her life.

Due to constant travel and poor health, he was unable to receive a proper education.

He early begins to show interest in painting and creativity in general. Already in the late 1920s, he moved to France, where he began to work as a designer and also made scenery.

In 1927, having visited the exhibition of the already recognized P. Picasso, Francis understands that he wants to become an artist, and begins to paint. Shortly thereafter, he returns to England and in London organizes a small workshop in an old garage. Here he will work until 1932.

The beginning of the creative path

In 1933, he painted the painting "Crucifixion", which was honored to be exhibited at the London Gallery. The paintings of Francis Bacon are beginning to win their audience, and the artist himself has the first admirers.

Since then, he has been working quite productively. A huge number of canvases came out from under his brush. However, the 1930s and 1940s were not the most fruitful of his life. His work reached a much greater scope in the post-war years, when nothing prevented the artist from creating paintings. Francis Bacon fell in love with many for his special style, rich palette and emotionality of his work.

In every stroke of the brush, the feelings and experiences of the artist are visible.

post-war period

As already mentioned above, the creative flowering of the artist Francis Bacon, whose paintings and biography are described in this article, came in the second half of the twentieth century.

One of the first canvases that made a splash in the art world was his painting "Three studies of figures at the feet of the Crucifixion", created by him in 1944. She was exhibited in the famous galleries "Tate" and "Lefevre".

At the end of the forties, he left England for Monaco, where he worked for several years. Upon returning to London, he takes a job at the Royal College of Art as a teacher, and also works for some time at the Hanover Gallery (Hanover Gallery).

In 1955, the first personal exhibition of Francis Bacon's paintings was organized, the theme of which was a retrospective of his work in modern art. Approximately according to the same plan, his exhibition was made at the Tate Gallery in 1962.

The work and paintings of Francis Bacon are gaining popularity. He is beginning to be recognized not only in his native England and Ireland, but throughout Europe and America.

Trips to America

Francis Bacon first came to America as an artist in 1968. Then he presented his canvas "Triptych on the theme of the poem by Thomas Eliot", written in 1967, in New York.

After success in the USA, he returned to Europe, where he exhibited several times in Paris and London. In the mid-1970s, he again visits America, where he had the honor of meeting the greatest artist of the time, Andy Warhol. Their acquaintance happened in 1975.

The purpose of the visit to America was an exhibition of his works in the world-famous Metropolitan Museum in New York.

Further creativity

Paintings by Francis Bacon in the 70s and 80s become so popular and in demand that during these years it is actively exhibited throughout Europe. So in the late 70s he exhibited in Spain, and after almost ten years he even had the opportunity to demonstrate his paintings, first in East Berlin, and then in Moscow (1988).

Far from all Western artists managed to achieve such high trust and recognition in the socialist countries. This once again demonstrates that Bacon is a true master of his craft, a genius.

In addition, he continues to work actively, regularly creating works of art. His creative piggy bank is steadily replenished with new paintings. This is the most creatively fruitful period of his life, when the largest number of works was created.

Paintings by Francis Bacon with titles

The number of his works is in the hundreds, so, of course, within the framework of this article, only a few of his paintings will be listed as examples.

Of his early works, in addition to the already mentioned "Crucifixion", we can distinguish: "Portrait" (1932) and "Studio Interior" (1934). Many of the artist's early paintings are valued slightly lower than later ones. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the artist at that time was just beginning to look for his own style.

Of the later works of the artist, the following paintings are worth noting: "Three sketches for a portrait of Lucian Freud" (1969), "Three studies for figures at the foot of the crucifixion" (1944) and many others.

In the 1940s, he painted a cycle of paintings "Heads". He also painted numerous portraits, one of which is "Portrait of a Talking George Dyer" (1966) - his friend.

Style Features

Francis Bacon's paintings are mind-blowing images painted with a brush and paints, which have absorbed the artist's emotions, his worldview. Each canvas is filled with new ideas and trends in art.

At the same time, the artist's work is so risky, extreme and extravagant that even his colleagues in creativity could not always appreciate and understand this or that picture. But be that as it may, people were able to feel his talent and the message that he sought to convey in his work.

Many of the paintings are painted in rather gloomy and dim colors, although his palette is rich, it conveys to a greater extent some kind of anxiety and understatement. Each person sees something different in his works, each has its own meaning. Most likely, the artist wanted to convey some of his own experiences, and it’s not a fact that people accurately interpret his thoughts, but this is the peculiarity of painting and any art - the versatility and variability of presentation and understanding.

The most expensive paintings by the artist

Today, the paintings of Francis Bacon are highly valued. Some of them cost millions and even tens of millions of dollars. So, for example, the triptych "Three sketches for a portrait of Lucian Freud" in the modern art market is estimated at a fabulous amount, namely 142.4 million US dollars. Such a truly colossal price was given to Elaine Wynn in 2013 at the Christie's auction.

Another painting by Bacon, included in the list of the most expensive paintings, is the "Triptych", written by him in 1976. Its cost in 2008 was more than 86 million US dollars. The buyer did not wish to reveal his name.

The third painting, which was sold for a huge amount of money, was the triptych "Three studies for a portrait of John Edwards", created by the artist in 1984. The canvas was sold for 80 million in 2014. The acquirer also deemed it appropriate not to disclose his identity.

In the same row in this list are such great artists as: A. Modigliani, P. Picasso, E. Munch, V. van Gogh and many others. They all became the greatest, and Bacon is on the same list with them.

The fact that people are ready to give multi-million dollar fortunes for Bacon's paintings already speaks of his incredible demand as a painter. The artist's work was appreciated, and today he has already begun to be considered a modern classic. He is one of the creators of contemporary art, who largely determined the further trends that began to move art further. Having inspired millions of young artists with his example, Bacon became for many a real idol, an icon of contemporary art.

Finally

The paintings of Francis Bacon largely predetermined the development of painting in the twentieth century. Even today they look relevant and lively, and many current artists are guided precisely by the work of this master, considering him a role model.

The British are very proud that one of the most outstanding and expensive artists of our time is their compatriot. At home, his work is highly valued, even higher than in the rest of the world.

Despite the fact that not everyone likes his paintings, which have a rather peculiar style, and many even consider them tasteless and vulgar, he managed to win the hearts of millions of people on Earth. The secret of his success is amazing.