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The Arts Intel Report

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast

Jan 29 – Apr 17, 2022
Burlington House, Piccadilly, Mayfair, London W1J 0BD, UK

Francis Bacon’s father bred horses, and he himself was fascinated by the movement of animals, studying wildlife books and Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th-century photographs of mammals in motion. Bacon felt that animal behavior—uninhibited, honest—was a clue to the hidden truths in human nature, and he drew energy from the beast’s raw expression. This survey spans 50 years of the Irish-born artist’s career, and includes a trio of bullfight paintings that have never before been exhibited together. —E.C.

Francis Bacon, “Second Version of Triptych,” 1944 © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved. DACS/Artimage 2020. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.