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Francis Bacon
Irish-British • 1909-1992
Biography
Francis Bacon was a larger-than-life figure during his lifetime and remains one now more than ever. Famous for keeping a messy studio, and even more so for his controversial, celebrated depictions of papal subjects and bullfights, often told in triptychs, Bacon signified the blinding dawn of the Modern era. His signature blurred portraits weren't murky enough to stave off his reputation as highly contentious—his paintings were provocations against social order in the people's eye. But, Bacon often said, "You can't be more horrific than life itself."
In conversation with yet challenging the conventions of Modern art, Bacon was known for his triptychs brutalizing formalist truths, particularly Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which Bacon debuted in London in 1944, and Three Studies of Lucian Freud, which became famous when it set the record for most expensive work of art at auction at the time it sold in 2013.
Insights
Bacon's Three Studies of Lucian Freud once held rank as the world's most expensive painting when it sold for a staggering $142.4 million dollars in 2013.
Bacon's final painting is now attributed as Study of a Bull, 1991.
Another controversial motif of the artist's career was his exploration of homoeroticism and sexual tableaus through the male gaze.
Bacon is, in fact, a descendent of the seventeenth century philosopher of the same name.
"I should have been, I don't know, a con-man, a robber or a prostitute. But it was vanity that made me choose painting—vanity and chance."
Past Lots
7
Francis Bacon
Seated Figure (after, Study for a Portrait 1981) (S. 5, T. 15)
Estimate £8,000 - 12,000
Sold for £15,240
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113
Francis Bacon
Trois études de dos d'homme (after, Three Studies of the Male Back 1970) (S. 21, T. 21)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £19,050
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114
Francis Bacon
Triptych (after, Triptych 1974-1977) (S. 4, T. 13)
Estimate £7,000 - 9,000
Sold for £8,890
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11
Francis Bacon
Trois études de dos d'homme (after, Three Studies of the Male Back 1970) (S. 21, T. 21)
Estimate £20,000 - 30,000
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169
Francis Bacon
Triptych 1986-1987: right panel (after, Triptych 1986-1987) (S. 6, T. 22)
Estimate £3,000 - 5,000
Sold for £4,032
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19
Francis Bacon
Deuxième version du triptyque 1944 (after, Second Version of the Triptych, 1944) (S. 24, T. 25)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £20,160
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20
Francis Bacon
Étude d'après le portrait du Pape Innocent X par Velázquez (after, Study for Portrait of Pope Innocent X after Velásquez, 1965) (S. 14, T. 9)
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000
Sold for £18,900
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21
Francis Bacon
Seated Figure (after, Study for a Portrait 1981) (S. 5, T. 15)
Estimate £8,000 - 12,000
Sold for £16,380
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211
Francis Bacon
Étude pour un portrait de John Edwards (after, Study for a Portrait of John Edwards, 1986) (S. 22, T. 23)
Estimate $7,000 - 10,000
Sold for $8,190
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109
Francis Bacon
Deuxième version du triptyque, 1944 (Second Version of the Triptych, 1944) (S. 24, T. 25)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £27,720
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110
Francis Bacon
Seated Figure (after, Seated Figure 1977) (S. 7, T. 32)
Estimate £12,000 - 18,000
Sold for £12,600
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111
Francis Bacon
Study from Human Body (after, Study from Human Body 1987) (S. 8, T 30)
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000
Sold for £18,900
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112
Francis Bacon
Triptych (after, Triptych: right panel 1991) (S. 9, T. 31)
Estimate £10,000 - 15,000
Sold for £8,190
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14
Francis Bacon
Deuxième version du triptyque 1944 (Large Version) (after, Second Version of the Triptych, 1944) (S. 24, T. 25)
Estimate £35,000 - 45,000
Sold for £56,700
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15
Francis Bacon
Trois études pour un autoportrait (after, Three Studies for a Self-Portrait 1983) (S. 26, T. 28)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £21,420
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159
Francis Bacon
L'homme au lavabo (after, Figure at a Washbasin 1976) (S. 3, T. 35)
Estimate £7,000 - 9,000
Sold for £9,450
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16
Francis Bacon
Seated Figure (after, Study for a Portrait 1981) (S. 5, T. 15)
Estimate £8,000 - 12,000
Sold for £15,120
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160
Francis Bacon
Autoportrait (after, Self-Portrait, 1973) (S. 12, T. 7)
Estimate £6,000 - 8,000
Sold for £13,860
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161
Francis Bacon
Étude pour un portrait de John Edwards (after, Study for a Portrait of John Edwards, 1986) (S. 22, T. 23)
Estimate £5,000 - 7,000
Sold for £11,970
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162
Francis Bacon
Trois études de dos d'homme (after, Three Studies of the Male Back 1970): right panel (S. 21, T. 21)
Estimate £5,000 - 7,000
Sold for £10,710
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17
Francis Bacon
Œdipe et le Sphinx d'après Ingres (after, Œdipus and the Sphinx after Ingres, 1983) (S. 18, T. 17)
Estimate £7,000 - 9,000
Sold for £15,120
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15
Francis Bacon
Study for Bullfight No 1 (S. 10, T. 2)
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $56,700
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23
Francis Bacon
Untitled (Head)
Estimate £600,000 - 800,000
Sold for £772,700
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10
Francis Bacon
Deuxième version du triptyque 1944 (after, Second Version of the Triptych, 1944) (S. 24, T. 25)
Estimate £15,000 - 20,000
Sold for £28,980
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