The black lines in the background of each panel work to suggest a confined, constrained space.
#THREE STUDIES FOR FIGURES AT THE BASE OF A CRUCIFIXION PATCH#
The right hand figure is situated on a patch of grass, with its mouth opened into an inhumanly wide scream. The figure is draped in a white cloth, which could be construed as a reference to Grünewald’s The Mocking of Christ.
This figure has a disturbingly detailed mouth turned towards the viewer, though its position on its pedestal is ambiguous. The delineation of the background space forces the viewer’s gaze to the central figure of the triptych. It has been suggested that this figure could represent a mourner at the cross. The figure on the left is the most human-like, with a visible nose and ear visible under a mop of hair. The figures depicted in Three Studies are horrifying in their vague humanness while they have recognizable human features they are tortured and distorted to an unrecognizable degree. It is believed that Bacon may have been planning to use the triptych in a crucifixion scene, and that the Three Studies were imagined as part of a predella, the scenes at the base of a traditional altarpiece. The triptych is painted on Sundeala boards, which Bacon used as a cheaper alternative to canvas, and produced with oil and pastels. Bacon stated that all his work prior to Three Studies was irrelevant and insisted until his death that no retrospective would feature work prior to 1944 (though he was prone to destroying his earlier artworks). Each of the three figures can be traced back to Bacon’s earlier work to some degree, through stylistic elements such as the elongated, dislocated forms. The work is generally considered to be Bacon’s first mature piece. I think perhaps the drink helped me to be a bit freer.” Francis Bacon, Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion, 1944 Bacon recalls that he was in an alcoholic haze while completing the work, saying “I was in a bad mood of drinking, and I did it under tremendous hangovers and drink I sometimes hardly knew what I was doing. Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion was painted over a two week period in 1944. How did Bacon create Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion ? He died of a heart attack in Madrid in 1992. In 1973, Bacon became the first British artist to have a major exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Bacon’s grief over Dyer’s death inspired him to paint numerous portraits of Dyer, as well as the critically acclaimed Black Triptychs.įrancis Bacon on the Orient Express with his lover George Dyer in 1964ĬREDIT: THE JOHN DEAKIN ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES On the eve of the exhibition, Bacon and Dyer had a disagreement and Bacon fled their hotel room, only to find Dyer dead from an overdose when he returned the following morning. This would be the highlight of Bacon’s career, as he was now regarded as Britain’s greatest living painter. In 1971 Dyer accompanied Bacon to his art show at the Grand Palais in Paris. Fond of using Bacon’s money to fund benders with his friends, Bacon’s art world associates saw Dyer as a nuisance.
Bacon held an exhibition at the Hanover Gallery in 1949, producing the Heads series.īacon had many tumultuous relationships in his life, but the most significant was with George Dyer. He stated, “If I hadn’t been asthmatic, I might never have gotten into painting at all.” He went back to painting and produced Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion to great acclaim.
Although his success inspired him to hold his own exhibition the following year, it gained little attention and Bacon soon returned to his vagrant lifestyle, destroying most of his early work.īacon’s asthma prevented him from serving with the British Army during WWII. The piece gained critical attention and portrayed the themes of pain and suffering which would continue throughout his career. In 1933, he showed his first work Crucifixion, which was partly based on Picasso’s The Three Dancers.
He was encouraged to take up painting by one of his patrons, the artist Roy de Maistre. Upon moving back to London, he started working as an interior designer.