The Last Modern Master

Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon is widely

regarded as one of the most successful painters

of the 20th Century. Born at a time of great

innovations in the field of painting, he is arguably

the last modern master to have worked and lived.

Bacon broke new ground in the age-old genre of

portraiture, while most artists turned to abstraction

after the Second World War. Deeply affected by

the atrocities of his time, as well as traumatic lived

experiences, he interrogated both violence and the

human condition in his work.

Over the course of his 60year career Bacon never

ceased to explore his medium even when many

claimed that painting was dead Characterised by

a disturbing realism Bacons work does not limit

itself to capturing the visible but tackles the dark

realities of an era

Detail of British Painter Francis Bacon Portrait Session 1987

Photo by Raphael GaillardeGammaRaph via Getty Images

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1909 - 1992