Pictures of Francis Bacon. Francis Bacon: Biography

Someone pictures of Francis Bacon are associated with the "bleeding" canvases of Edward Munch. Others, watching the bizarre game of images, immediately remember the masterpieces of Dali and other surrealists. In the end, the correlation of the works of an English artist with a certain style of flow is not so important, they will be engaged in (or already engaged) art historians. The spectator is destined for a different fate - to contemplate the paintings of Francis Bacon and share the sensations of "hell that descended to earth."

Childhood in Exile

The artist's early years were painted by the disturbing events of the First World War, because of which his family had to leave Ireland and go to London. However, 1918, which brought relief to mankind, Francis did not reduce his sense of anxiety . For the future artist the theater of military operations was transferred to his own house, and the tyrant-father became the main opponent. One day he found the boy for a few spicy lessons: he tried on women's clothes. The father did not accept his son's homosexuality and drove him out of the house. For a whole year, the 17-year-old Bacon had to be content with the occasional sub-jobs and money that his mother sent. Then the hard parent changed his anger to mercy and sent Francis to travel with a close friend of the family. There the young men became lovers ...

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In 1927, a young man turns up in Paris, where he watches Picasso's exhibition, and decides for himself: he, Francis Bacon, is an artist whose paintings will one day be crowned with such glory. The young man was impressed not only by modern art, but also classical. "The beating of babies" by Poussin impressed the artist with his emotionality, he thought that the canvas was a single scream.

The last statement is very typical for expressionists. Looking ahead, we will say that Bacon Francis (pictures and biography of the artist confirm this) shared their understanding of the world as a cruel environment in which a person is extremely fragile and unhappy. And creativity from this perspective turns into a scream because of the sensation of ontological loneliness.

Back in London, Bacon mastered the profession of interior decorator. The tapestries created by him, furniture have gained popularity among the public, which can not be said unconditionally about the works of fine art. In 1933, one of the reproductions of Bacon was honored to be next to the canvas of Picasso (in the book of the famous critic Herbert Reed). This encouraged the artist a little, but not for long. Organized by him in 1934, the exhibition did not cause, to put it mildly, a big sensation. Two years later - again a failure. International exhibition of the Surrealists, where Francis Bacon proposed the paintings, refused him, responding in a typically avant-garde manner: they say, the canvases are not surreal enough.

Creative maturity

The war years were not the easiest for Francis. At first he was assigned to the reserve of the Civil Defense, but then abandoned this idea because of the artist's health condition (he suffered from asthma). Somewhere between 1943 and 1944, Bacon descended inspiration. He destroyed most of his early works, and instead offered the world "Three stages of the image based on the crucifixion". It was then that the artist Francis Bacon was born again, the pictures, whose biography will be the subject of discussion of half of the world.

The triptych was exhibited in the gallery of Lefebvre, causing a great scandal. The latter, however, only contributed to an increase in interest in the artist's work. In the autumn of 1953, Bacon's personal exhibition was held in New York, and a year later he was honored to represent Great Britain at the XXVII Biennale in Venice.

"Study of the human body" in Maybridge

In the early 60's, Bacon moved for the last time. He decides to settle in a room where horses were once held. The stables-studio became a legend during the life of the artist, because it was here that Frances Bacon created paintings with names that later became known to any fan of contemporary art. And exactly the same legendary became the chaos that reigned in the studio, which contained sketches, postcards, fragments of newspapers necessary for Francis. In the general heap there were also works of the photographer Maybridge, who served as a source for the creation of the "Studios of the human body". The woman and child portrayed by Bacon "come" from the early creations of the master. However, the borrowed plot of the artist gives a tragic flavor. The imprinted woman is, in fact, a piece of wounded flesh, near which is a paralytic child. The extremely gloomy atmosphere of the picture of Francis Bacon is supplemented by the screaming scarlet tone of a completely dehumanised space.

"Reclining figure"

For two decades, the artist and his friends became regulars of the "Room with the Columns" bar. There he found himself a model, one of which, Henrietta Moraes, is depicted as a "Reclining figure." This canvas, like no other, is full of realistic details: looking at it, you can find a syringe stuck in the girl's shoulder, as well as a bed with strips, ashtray, light bulbs. At the same time, the very figure of Henrietta is drawn more weakly.

In the plot of the picture, analogies are clearly seen with the canvases of other masters, for example, "Guernica" and "Avignon girls" by Picasso. Such roll calls are not accidental: Francis Bacon, whose paintings were created with an eye for the creativity of the Spanish surrealist, sought to "free" tabooed by centuries of hypocrisy human nakedness.

Self-portraits

The beginning of the 70's was marked for the artist by a series of dramatic events. In 1971, the lover of Francis George Dyer died, with whom he lived for about seven years. After him, John Deakin, a photographer who worked closely with the artist, died (it is known that Bacon never wrote his works from nature). Such losses forced the master to capture himself more and more often. "I have no one to draw," he notes sadly.

Like the rest of the paintings of Francis Bacon, his self-portraits tend to capture the true essence of the model. Hence the irresistible aversion of the artist to frozen facial expressions or profitable poses. On the contrary, the image of Bacon is dynamic, it changes under the brush of the master. Some features are drawn in more detail, while others disappear altogether.

Eternal glory

In 1988, at that time Soviet Moscow held an exhibition of Francis's works, albeit in limited numbers, which served as a true proof of the recognition of the artist outside the Western world.

Sometimes Bacon's paintings evoke conflicting reviews, but the overwhelming majority of critics nevertheless agree that tragic, expressionistic sketches leave no one indifferent. They are relevant even now, 23 years after Bacon's death.