Revisions: Francis Bacon in the Act of Painting

“It would be interesting to photograph those things all the time, so that you’d be able to see what you’d lost and what you’ve gained.” – Francis Bacon, 1975

Bacon’s works often lost and gained a great deal after leaving his studio, as he frequently found ways to alter, improve or destroy his paintings, even as they hung on the walls of gallerists and collectors. From the sudden absence of a cigarette in Study of a Portrait of a Man, 1967, to the removal of Richard Chopping’s central figure in the centre panel of Triptych 1974-77, Bacon’s revisions vary dramatically in scale and intention. Diptychs become triptychs, seemingly important details disappear without ceremony, and figures travel between works like ghosts.

Many artists make changes to their paintings while they are in progress, but in few instances do photographic records exist. Francis Bacon’s oeuvre provides a rare exception. With first and final versions presented side by side for the first time, Revisions: Francis Bacon in the Act of Painting provides detailed, never-before-seen insights into Bacon the creator: his process, his intentions, and what does and doesn’t make a ‘Bacon’, according to the artist himself.

Never painting from life, Bacon was known to be very guarded with his artistic process – with even his portrait subjects very rarely observing him at work. The secrecy that cloaked the formulation of his paintings has fuelled plenty of speculation, much of it wide of the mark.