As the year draws to a close, we reflect on another busy twelve months celebrating the life and art of Francis Bacon. 2016 provided fantastic opportunities to view Bacon's art. The major exhibition 'Francis Bacon: Invisible Rooms' displayed first at Tate Liverpool and is now on view at Germany’s Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. The Grimaldi Forum Monaco hosted the monumental show ‘Francis Bacon, Monaco and French Culture’, curated by Martin Harrison, which now displays as ‘Francis Bacon: From Picasso to Velázquez’ at Museo Guggenheim Bilbao. The Estate supported each of these four shows. Bacon's art was also presented in New York, Los Angeles, Paris, and in UK displays in Norwich and presently York. Ahead of the publication of the 'Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné' the Estate organised a one-day, free-admission show in London entitled ‘Francis Bacon: Six Studies in Soho’. 2,200 attendees viewed not only six Francis Bacon works, but also first editions of the catalogue.
30 June 2016 was a landmark date for not only everyone at the Estate but every Francis Bacon art enthusiast, as it marked the long-awaited global publication of ‘Francis Bacon: Catalogue Raisonné’. The catalogue containing each of Bacon’s 584 paintings has been edited by Martin Harrison, FSA, the pre-eminent expert on Bacon’s work, alongside research assistant Dr Rebecca Daniels. An ambitious and painstaking project that has been over ten years in the making, this seminal visual document eclipses in scope any previous publication on the artist and will have a profound effect on the perception of his work.
Among other supportive activities carried out by the Estate in 2016 was the opportunity to honour the memory of Christophe Dejean, who was a key member of staff at The Estate of Francis Bacon. Christophe was a long-time supporter of the Terrence Higgins Trust charity and so we donated a lithograph of Francis Bacon’s Lying Figure, 1969, to the Terrence Higgins Trust Annual Event, The Auction. It has also been another busy year for The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, their highlights include performing a lecture on ‘Francis Bacon and Monaco’ with Martin Harrison, within the framework of conferences organised by the Prince Pierre Foundation of Monaco, and participation in Monaco's first “Nuit Blanche”. It's an enormous pleasure to be able to share our activities via this website and our Facebook and Twitter channels. We look forward to sharing more exciting Francis Bacon news with you in 2017. From everyone at The Estate of Francis Bacon, we wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year. *Please note all details including featured works, display/exhibition dates and hours are subject to change, and tickets are subject to availability and access, for all confirmation please contact the hosting Gallery/Museum.
