Francis Bacon’s visceral imagery—his contorted and flayed bodies and faces—have become symbolic of nihilism and death. Lucian Freud’s frankly mortal visages are anything but welcoming. Often scowling, his subjects hold one’s gaze with cold power. Placing the pair side-by-side, this exhibition should test and taunt, provoke and silence. —E.C.

Bacon, Freud: La Condition Humana
Marlborough Madrid
Calle de Orfila, 5, 28010 Madrid, Spain
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