Francis Bacons’ painting career began during his early 20s and worked only sporadically until his mid 30s when is career began to really flourish. Before this time he was working as an interior decorator and designer of furniture and rugs to earn his living. Bacon admitted that his career was delayed because he had spent too long looking for a subject that would sustain his interest. He started off by mainly focusing on and producing portraits of heads of friends. Most of Francis Bacons work is based on heads. I don’t really like his work because all of his paintings look deformed and I don’t really find them interesting to look at. I like the colours he uses on some of his paintings and the rough brush marks. He is famously described as ‘’that man who paints those dreadful pictures’’ which I totally agree, Some of his paintings look half human and half something else. I find that his paintings are mostly of males. Some of his paintings are of the naked body that are also deformed and disturbing. Bacons work is similar to the work of Jenny Saville and Lucian Freud who also paint the naked body. Francis Bacon was born 22nd January 1561 and famously died on 9th April 1626 of pneumonia contracted while studying the effects of freezing on the preservation of meat. Francis Bacon often referred to other artist and used photographs as reference material for his paintings.
Title of painting: Study after Velazquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X 1953: This painting is a disturbing portrait of the screaming pope, from a painting by the Spanish artist Diego Velazquez that was painted in 1650.
Many of Francis Bacons painting are disturbing even a simple portrait can be transformed into something shocking by the artist. Francis Bacon had a fascination with flesh and movement. Francis Bacon Quote ‘’Flesh and meat are life! If I paint red meat as a paint bodies it is just because I find it beautiful.’’
This is an example of one of his shocking portraits.
Title of painting: Head III 1961.
