Artist: Francis Bacon (1909 - 1992)
Nationality: English
Movement: School of London
Media: Painting
Influences:

Biography:
Francis Bacon was born in Dublin to English parents. In 1924, he left Ireland to travel across Europe, encountering a Picasso exhibit in Paris, which was his original inspiration to begin painting. Bacon worked as a furniture designer in London for some time before joining the Civil Defense during World War II. His first successful painting, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, received enthusiastic reviews in 1945. After spending five years in Monte Carlo to gamble, Bacon returned to London to continue painting as his reputation was growing. His paintings normally depicted disturbing themes of pain, solitude, and vulnerability.

Artworks in Museum Collections: (40)
Click the artwork titles below to see actual examples of artwork or works of art relevant to works by Francis Bacon.

Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Jacobus Houbraken, Sir Francis Bacon, Viscount St. Albans, Lord Chancellor, 1738
The Minneapolis Institute of Arts -
Artist: Francis Bacon Title: Study for Portrait VI Date: 1953 Medium: oil on canvas Dimensions:
-
Francis Bacon - Painting 1946 oil and pastel on li The Museum of Modern Art British
-
Francis Bacon - Study for Portrait VI 1953 oil on canvas Minneapolis Institute of Arts British
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, Aesthetic Pleasure, 1936
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Untilled Field, 1937
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, Spirit Of Rain, 1936
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Swiss Restaurant, 1918
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Priceless Find, 1944
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, An Object Of Interest, 1941
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, Of Course They All Wanted The Cat (cat Between Legs), 1919
-
Francis Bacon - Figure with Meat 1954 oil on canvas The Art Institute of Chicago American
-
Francis Bacon - Study of a Baboon 1953 oil on canvas The Museum of Modern Art British
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Jacobus Houbraken, Nicholas Bacon, 1738
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Rival Ragmen, 1937
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Haunted House, 1939
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Wayne Thiebaud, Bacon and Eggs, pl. 5, from the book, Delights, 1964
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, Lunch No. I. Hors D"oeuvres, 1928
-
Francis Bacon - Study for Crouching Nude 1952 oil and sand on canv The Detroit Institute of Art English
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Peggy Bacon, The Haunted House, 19th - 20th century
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Wayne Thiebaud, Bacon and Eggs, pl. 5 from the portfolio Delights, 1964
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Edward R. Bacon (1846-1915), 1897 Anders Leonard Zorn (Swedish, 1860-1920)Oil on canvas; 48 1/4 x
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
T. Blood, European Magazine, John Bacon, Esquire, 19th century
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Mrs. Walter Rathbone Bacon (Virginia Purdy, died 1919), 1897 Anders Leonard Zorn (Swedish, 1860-1920)Oil on
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Thomas Rowlandson, Bacon Faced Fellows Of Brasen Nose, Broke Loose, 1811
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Alexander Brook, Dark Lady. Portrait of Peggy Bacon, 19th - 20th century
Museum of Fine Arts -
Eagle Bronze figure Roman Late Imperial Period 3rd–4th century A.D. Bronze Height x width: 10.9
Museum of Fine Arts -
Ernest Lee Major, American, 1864-1950 Marion Pond (Mrs. Kenneth Bacon Bond) 1903 Oil on canvas
The Metropolitan Museum of Art -
Armchair, 1886-1888 Manufactured by A. H. Davenport (1800-1908); Designed by Francis H. Bacon (1856-1940)American; Made
-
John Smibert - Mrs. Francis Brinley and Her Son Francis 1729 oil on canvas The Metropolitan Museum of Art American
Museum of Fine Arts -
Water jar Acoma Pueblo (Native American) United States, New Mexico, (Acoma), 1880-1900 Earthenware with slip
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Thomas Rowlandson, A Peep into Friar Bacon"s Study, plate opposite page 292 in the book History of the Westminster Election ...by Lovers of Truth and Justice (London: printed for the Editors, and sold by J. Debrett, 1784) , 1784
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Thomas Rowlandson, A Peep into Friar Bacon"s Study, plate opposite page 292 in the book History of the Westminster Election ...by Lovers of Truth and Justice (London: printed for the Editors, and sold by J. Debrett, 1784) , 1784
-
Francis Chantrey - Francis Homer 1820 marble Ackland Art Museum British
-
Peggy Bacon - Marsden Hartley c. 1930 pastel on canvas Portland Museum of Art American
-
Henry Bacon - The Erechtheum n.d. watercolor Smithsonian American Art Museum American
Museum of Fine Arts -
Henry Bacon, American, 1837-1912 On Shipboard 1877 Oil on canvas 50.16 x 73.98 cm (19
Museum of Fine Arts -
Henry Bacon, American, 1837-1912 Dog in Mourning 1870 Oil on canvas 32.38 x 24.76 cm
Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco -
Francis Seymour Haden, Portrait of Francis Seymour Haden (Self-Portrait with etching equipment), 1862
-
Henry Bacon - Spirit of the Sphinx n.d. watercolor Smithsonian American Art Museum American

Artnews Articles and Exhibition Information: (30)
Click on any of the links below to read about artnews or exhibitions related to Bacon

Sheffield Galleries and Museum Trust, Millenium Galleries: Surveying of the Career of Francis Bacon
The exhibition features the Tate's collection of Bacon paintings and drawings and is complemented by selected works from other ...
Modern Art Museum, Fort Worth: Francis Bacon: A Retrospective Exhibition
...
Irish Museum of Modern Art: The Barry Joule Archive - Works on Paper attributed to Francis Bacon
The imagery of the 'X-Album' contributes to a wider critical understanding of the themes that Francis Bacon developed in his major paintings. The exhibition also contains a substantial sele...
Marlborough Gallery: Francis Bacon: Paintings
Marlborough’s show will consist of nine works as follows: three quintessential triptychs dating from 1970, 1983 and 1986-87, each panel measuring 78 x 58 inches; a rare 1957 painting of a pope, measuring 60 x 46 1/2 inches; Study for Self Portr...
Hugh Lane Gallery: Francis Bacon's 7 Reece Mews Studio Reconstructed
Donated by Bacon’s heir John Edwards, the reconstructed studio was formally opened by The Rt. Hon The Lord Mayor of Dublin, Ald Maurice Ahern on 23 May 2001. This remarkable cultural donation is the most important received by the Gallery since it ...
Dulwich Picture Gallery: The Golden Age of Watercolours : The Hickman Bacon Collection
Sir Hickman Bacon had unusual tastes for his time. The collection is especially strong in the type of late, ethereal Turner watercolour that only became widely popular with the advent of abstract painting in the 1940s and 50s. The works by Girtin ...
Dideh Iranian Fine Art: Iran on the Web
Mr. Nami Petgar one of the exhibiting Iranian painter describes it: It is as if a small window has been opened to my studio and a selection of my works has been put on display ...
Portland Museum of Art: Hamilton Easter Field Art Foundation Collection
...
Gemeentemuseum Den Haag: Francis Bacon
The paintings on view will include the famous series of Popes, his works based on Van Gogh, portraits of his friend and companion George Dyer and a large number of monumental triptychs, including one - Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Cr...
Albright-Knox Art Gallery: Photographs of Artists
Don't miss this opportunity to come face to face with artists represented in the Gallery's collection such as Henri...
ArtSpace: Transformers
Sean Bacon
ZONE
The audience is led into Zone only to find themselves the focus of attention. The viewer is given control over a series of images in which they are alternatively present and absent and in which the installation itself os...
Plains Art Museum: Theodore Waddell: A Retrospective, 1960-2000
Theodore Waddell has long been recognized as one of Montana's most important contemporary artists - one who has played a significant role in the development of late modernism in Montana and the West. His intimate relationship to the land and peop...
Neuberger Museum of Art: The School of London and Their Friends: The Mel and Elaine Merians Collection
The movement emerged in the 1940s when Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud rebelled against generally accepted art world norms by centering their interest on ...
Tate Gallery: Britain s New National Museum of Modern Art, and Will Open to the Public for the First Time on 12 May.
Bankside Power Station has been transformed into Tate Modern by the Swiss architects Herzog & de Meuron. The former Turbine Hall, running the whole length of the vast building, now marks a breathtaking entrance to the gallery. From...
Kimbell Art Museum: European Masterpieces: Six Centuries of Paintings from the National Gallery of Victoria
Works range in scope and style from the intimate Man of Sorrows by Memling, a devotional piece for private contemplation, to the comparatively ostentatious ...
Royal College of Art: The 20th Century British Art Fair
It is the only fair to cover British art from 1900 to the present day and for five days, under one roof, art lovers can enjoy and marvel at the talent and diversity of painting, sculpture, photography and ceramics which incorporate 20th Century Briti...
Oakland Museum of California: Every Worker is an Organizer: Farm Labor and the Resurgence of the United Farm Workers
Bacon's black and white photographs provide an intimate look at field labor, union organizing activity and labor leaders during the United Farm Workers 1996 drive to organize the entire central California Coast strawberry industry, employing 25,0...
Esso Gallery: Francesco Simeti: NOW I KNOW MY ABC's
His patterns show images of conflict, crowds of people or military personnel engaged in non-natural disasters and the words are derived from a media-created language. The ability of Francesco Simeti to subvert a given system by using it's own l...
Cairns Regional Gallery: Cairns Art Societies 55th Annual Open Art Awards
We promote the Open Art Awards nationally through The Australian Artist magazine and subsequently we have received entries from as far afield as the Margaret River region in Western Australia and Adelaide, Ms Donne said. The Cairns Art Socie...
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden: Directions: Cecily Brown
Among the works that will be on view are the never-before-exhibited "Dogday Afternoon," 1999, in which the artist's body markings are part of the composition; "Bacchanal," 2001, exemplifying Brown's recent investigations into landscape; and an ...
Colville Place Gallery: Marty St James: Betweeness
A number of my previous performance and video art works were to do with a sense of staticness and in contrast my static image print works are often to do with movement. This allows me an artistic freedom within the form and content. Marty St....
Contemporary Arts Center: Loop: Back to the Beginning
Assembled by Klaus Biesenbach, Loop examines the phenomenon of cyclical time as illustrated by the repeated gesture or event. In each of the works included in this exhibition, time becomes a sculptural component. Time is chopped up, carved, compre...
Tate Gallery, Liverpool: Figurative Art at the End of the Century
Many of these works have only just been acquired by the Tate and are on show in Liverpool for the first time. Together, they create a powerful spectacle and raise issues ...
William Traver Gallery: John Miller: Blue Plate Special
The concept for Blue Plate Special began a couple years ago, with John sketching designs for glass works to execute. John’s prior body of work focused on large scale Venetian goblets, and he wanted to create art of everyday objects – in some respe...
Esso Gallery: Lato Destro: The Photographic Side of Arte Povera
About the relationship between art and photography there is a great deal to say. Too much in a press release. It's relevant to say that in this particular case the alchemical processes in the work of the Arte Povera artists finds a natural grou...
Bonnefanten Museum: Bonnefantopia: Installation by Atelier van Lieshout
Bonnefantopia is a one-storey opened-out structure made from untreated wood, scaffolding materials and polished fibreglass housing several functions: toilet, shower, kitchen and luxury lounge bed with special lighting, music and spirits, a fitness...
Milwaukee Art Museum: Nothing But Nudes: Selections from the Permanent Collection
he exhibition Nothing But Nudes: Selections from the Permanent Collection reveals not only the many roles of the nude in art but also the depth of the museum's holdings. Including works from all media painting and sculpture, w...
Sheffield Galleries and Museum Trust, Graves Art Gallery: Terence Donovan: The Eye That Never Sleeps
Born in Stepney in London's East End, Donovan was as comfortable in the ateliers of Paris couturiers as he was in the streets east of Aldgate. But it was the chaos of these streets, the swathes o...
Museum of Contemporary Art, LA and the Geffen Contemporary: David Hockney Retrospective: Photoworks
“David’s outstanding work has inspired thousands worldwide and has captured the essence of Southern California,” said Jeremy Strick, MOCA director. “We are delighted to host this incredible show of photographic works which showcases his contin...
National Portrait Gallery of Australia: Bill Brandt: A Retrospective
No other British photographer has made so many memorable photographs as Bill Brandt. He excelled in all fields -social scenes, Surrealism, night photography, wartime documentary, landscape, portraiture and the nude, writes Mark Haworth-Booth, curator...

Further Artwork and Information:

Francis Bacon Image Gallery
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
Mark Hardens Artchive - Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon Biography and Timeline
Francis Bacon
Francis Bacon [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy]
WebMuseum: Bacon, Francis
FRANCIS BACON
Francis Bacon Online
Francis Bacon

Search the Art History Database for artists, titles, media, year, and other indepth information: