Francis Bacon- Study for Selfportrait, 1984

Francis Bacon is one of the most recognized figurative painters of the 20th century. His unique approach to painting has been influencing artists like Jenny Saville or Damien Hirst. Bacon's signature style is characterized by an energetic and visceral way of painting, with flat backgrounds and a powerful sense of motion. Exploring the human figure in its most distorted aspect, his imagery is often defined as terrifying because of the emotional physicality he attributes to each brushstroke. For Bacon, life inspired art, drawing on the themes and people that surrounded him and on the feelings that were found within him. He aimed to create art that challenged the viewer and resonated with his own personal world. Considered one of the most important British painters of modern age, Bacon’s paintings are among the world’s most valuable works of postwar art.

This offset lithograph precedes Bacon’s masterful triptych with the same title Study for Self-portrait painted in 1985-86. The artist’s raw examination of his own self contrasts with the choice of delicate and soft hues. In an interview with Sylvester in the early 80’s, Bacon admitted n an interview with Sylvester in the early 1980s, Bacon admitted that his friends had been ‘dying around like flies and I've had nobody else to paint but myself’. This print is a magnificent example of Bacon’s superlative representation and exploration of the human form and condition in his oeuvre.