Description
Using the painter's queer identity as a framework to understand his visceral approach to figuration
Francis Bacon is considered one of the most important artists of the 20th century, best known for his distinctive way of portraying human figures. Especially in his male portraits and nudes, the physicality of the bodyskin, flesh, musclesis translated by the artist into thick, oily textures, giving the figures almost abstract shapes. Flashes of teeth, torsos and rib cages underscore Bacon's visceral philosophy regarding the human form. As the artist famously said: We are meat, we are potential carcasses. If I go into a butcher's shop I always think it is surprising that I wasn't there instead of the animal.
Beyond their carnal overtones, these paintings unite a wide variety of influences, revisiting canonical themes and combining references to the great masters of painting with Bacon's own perceptions of the male body. Both his biography and oeuvre were perme
