Francis Bacon’s Deuxième version du triptyque is a later reworking of his iconic triptych titled Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, which was completed 44 years earlier. Set before a deep scarlet backdrop, three distorted figures – part man, part beast – roar with monstrous rage. In this later work, where Bacon has chosen a blood-red void and given the figures more space to breathe, the palpable angst crawling against a setting of isolation presents the torment that is so archetypal to Bacon’s oeuvre.
Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944. Image: © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS 2022. Image: ©Tate
Bacon identified these figures as Greek furies – the vengeful ancient goddesses who punished human wrongdoings. Whereas furies are traditionally depicted as elegant, winged female deities, Bacon contorts them into monstrous hybrids. The mythological creatures appear trapped, attempting to break out of captivity, extending their necks and exposing their ribs as ravenous vultures.'When people tell me my paintings are disturbing, poignant, and shocking, I always wonder whether life itself isn’t even more disturbing, poignant, and shocking. I would really like to capture a moment of this reality, with everything that’s subjective about that moment, and to confine it in a painting.' —Francis Bacon The earlier triptych was completed in 1944 and first shown publicly in April 1945, during the final months of the Second World War. Borne from that moment, the pain palpable in Bacon’s figures undeniably resonates with the anguish of war, particularly the horror of the first photographs and film footage captured inside Nazi concentration camps, and the looming threat of nuclear destruction. By returning to this motif 44 years later, Deuxième version du triptyque is a self-reflexive gesture which does not simply acknowledge but rather insists upon the perpetual poignancy of war and the futility of human life as the central driving force behind the creation of Bacon’s art.
Provenance
Gul Coskin, London
Private Collection, LondonLiterature
Bruno Sabatier 24
Alexandre Tacou 25Artist Biography
Francis Bacon
Irish-British • 1909 - 1992
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.
14
Deuxième version du triptyque 1944 (Large Version) (after, Second Version of the Triptych, 1944) (S. 24, T. 25)
1989
The complete set of three lithographs in colours, on Arches paper, with full margins.
all I. 143.7 x 106.1 cm (56 5/8 x 41 3/4 in.)
all S. 179.3 x 120.2 cm (70 5/8 x 47 3/8 in.)
All signed and annotated 'H.C.' in pencil (one of 13 hors commerce sets, the edition was 30 and 8 artist's proofs, there was also an edition of 60 in a smaller format), published by Michel Archimbaud for the Librairie Séguier for IRCAM Centre Pompidou, Paris, all framed.
Estimate
£35,000 - 45,000 ♠
Sold for £56,700
Rebecca Tooby-Desmond
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Anne Schneider-Wilson
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Evening & Day Editions
London Auction 14-15 June 2022
177
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178
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206
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