Francis Bacon was born in Ireland to English parents in October 1909 and died on the 28th of April 1992. I have noticed that the majority of his work has a bland or empty background with only the subject. He is described as being a “figurative painter known for his bold, austere, graphic and emotionally raw imagery”.
 |
| http://www.gerard-schurmann.com/media/bacon.jpg |
The first picture I have chosen to critique is one of a man with a twisted face, set on a pink background. The distorted figure looks to be aloof slightly, peering down from where he sits. There appears to be some sort of instrument sticking out of the sitter’s nose. It looks somewhat like a horn and I don’t understand what its function is. The majority of his paintings that I have seen are bizarre and I fail to find a meaning in them, yet can’t turn away because they are interesting and it makes me wonder what it could possibly mean, if anything.
The white collar and black top suggests he is a business man of some kind and possibly important, which could suggest why he looks aloof. Pink seems an interesting colour to use as the background, while it doesn’t make the sitter stand out incredibly, it still draws attention to him. In my opinion, some of the colours used in his skin clash with this background and so it wouldn’t have been my choice of background. I do, however, find it interesting how he has severely distorted the features yet it still looks like a man. I have already attempted to recreate a piece of his work and wonder why it was he wanted to create this man in the way.
 |
| http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Study_after_Velazquez%27s_Portrait_of_Pope_Innocent_X.jpg |
His painting ‘Portrait of Pope Innocent X’ does have a meaning to me. I know that pope innocent was found to have sent love letters to his brother’s wife and they were supposed to have been meeting in private behind his brother’s back. This, in any walk of life, is unacceptable… but for a pope it was absolutely awful. He was a very powerful man and there was another artist, who I can’t remember the name of, that painted Pope Innocent holding a letter. He had told the pope it was an important document to show his intellect, however its real purpose was to depict the letters he was sending and therefore what an awful man he truly was. I feel that this painting that Francis Bacon has created is related to this. He has painted him in the same position on the same chair as the other painting I have seen and I feel that it shows him being taken, screaming into black hell for his crime.
The colouring in the painting is dark and, to me, shows evil. His skin is blue and lifeless, which lead me to think of his death and hell, while his open mouth suggests he is screaming. This is how I arrived at my conclusion. This is a very powerful piece and I very much like it. Though the theme is dark, I think it important that the pope has finally been depicted in art outright as a bad person, rather than the sneaky hints that were necessary for the artist’s safety at the time. If it had been discovered that the artist had intended what he had, he would have been executed. There is a splatter of red on his gown which could represent blood.
 |
| http://elitechoice.org/wp-content/uploads/2007/10/francis-bacon.jpg |
The last painting is of another distorted man on a black background. Unlike the first one, this man looks almost sad rather than aloof with confidence. The dark background really makes the sitter stand out as opposed to the pink of the previous painting, this make me feel that Bacon wanted to draw us to this sitter and look at him more carefully. The man is wearing what looks to be a black top with a leather jacket, deeming him less important than the other sitter, perhaps. Maybe we are meant to compare these men because they have been created in a similar style. If so, it would seem there is a real confidence difference between them. The first, in his shirt and blazer looked to be very confident, perhaps even arrogant because of it. The second, wearing more practical civilian clothes, looks as though he is unhappy and dissatisfied by something. It could possibly be his work he isn’t satisfied with. There seems to be a lot of discolouration in the man’s face. It almost looks bruised, though it could also be a distorted form of shading. This is the painting I attempted to recreate in my lessons, though even after completion, I still didn’t fully understand a meaning behind it. Not until I compared it to the similar piece just now. However, this may not have been Bacon’s intention.
