Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86
Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86 is a triptych painted between 1985 and 1986 by the Irish-born English artist Francis Bacon. It is a brutally honest examination of the effect of age and time on the human body and spirit, and was painted in the aftermath of the deaths of many of his close friends. It is Bacon's only full-length self-portrait, and was described by art critic David Sylvester as "grand, stark, ascetic".
Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86. Oil on canvas, each panel 198cm x 147.5cm. Marlborough Fine Art, London
Self-Portrait, 1973
Francis Bacon was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his raw, unsettling imagery. Focusing on the human form, his subjects included crucifixions, portraits of popes, self-portraits, and portraits of close friends, with abstracted figures sometimes isolated in geometrical structures. Rejecting various classifications of his work, Bacon said he strove to render "the brutality of fact." He built up a reputation as one of the giants of contemporary art with his unique style.
Bacon photographed in the early 1950s
Francis Bacon's birthplace at 63 Baggot Street, Dublin
Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944. Oil and pastel on Sundeala board. Tate Britain, London
Three Studies for a Portrait of Henrietta Moraes, 1963