Francis Bacon
"You always have to go too far to get anywhere at all, in art or life."
Francis Bacon is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in British art. In recent years, his work has achieved exceptional results at auction, cementing his position as one of the most sought-after artists in the contemporary market. Only thirty-six of his paintings were reproduced as editions during his lifetime, a relatively small number for such an important and coveted artist.
Bacon’s art is best known for its raw, unsettling depictions of the human figure. He repeatedly returned to key motifs, including crucifixions, popes, portraits and wrestling figures. His reputation was firmly established in 1944 with Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. Over the following decades, he built an unchallenged reputation as the greatest British painter since Turner.
A defining feature of Bacon’s practice was his tendency to work in series. Rather than moving rapidly between subjects, he preferred to explore a single theme over long periods:
- 1940s: Isolated male heads set within confined rooms or geometric frameworks
- 1950s: The iconic “screaming popes”
- 1960s: Crucifixion variations and an expanding body of portraits
- 1970s: Darker, more introspective works reflecting time, loss and death
- 1980s–90s: Highly refined, distilled studies of the human figure
Over the past two decades, Bacon’s market performance has been remarkable. His Portrait of George Dyer Talking (1966) sold for £4 million at Christie’s in 2000, before reaching £42 million just fourteen years later. Triptych (1976) set a record at Sotheby’s in 2008. This was surpassed in 2013 when Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud achieved £89.4 million at Christie’s New York. These milestones underline the sustained global demand for his work.
Bacon’s interest in repetition and variation aligns naturally with the principles of printmaking. Throughout his career, he collaborated with leading print studios to produce etchings and lithographs based on some of his most celebrated paintings. Today, Francis Bacon prints are among the most desirable works available to collectors, offering museum-quality imagery at a far more attainable price point.
Bacon's sensitivity to the practice of repetition and sequence dovetails beautifully with the philosophy of printmaking. He worked with a number of major print studios throughout his life to create etchings and lithographs after some of his most acclaimed paintings. They represent a highly-coveted facet of his work at an infinitely more accessible price point. These printed works are some of the most desirable pieces available to collectors today.
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