Francis Bacon

English

1909 – 1992

Francis Bacon was born in Dublin to an Irish mother and an Australian-born English father of affluent means. After early years of travel and odd-jobs in London, Berlin, and Paris, Bacon settled in London and made a career as an interior designer. He began to paint sporadically during the 1930s and was given his first one-man show at the Transition Gallery in London. Bacon’s lack of training was a handicap that he turned to an advantage. Uninhibited by formal skills or rules of composition he painted for effect. His unique feverish, distorted anthropomorphic style began to emerge in the 1940s. During the 1950s he achieved an international reputation as a painter. Bacon spent time in Monte Carlo, Tangier, and Paris, but maintained his home and studio in London, where he attracted people from a variety of backgrounds into his social circle with his wit. Many of these individuals came to be featured in his portraits. During his lifetime Bacon had major exhibitions in London, Paris, New York, Dublin, Los Angeles, and Moscow, among others. Bacon passed away in Madrid on the 28th of April, 1992. Since his passing Bacon’s reputation has steadily grown.