FRANCIS BACON

Lot 598
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Estimation :
20000 - 25000 EUR
FRANCIS BACON
Francis BACON (1992-1992) Triptych August 1972. 1979. Lithography. Subjects: 65.5 x 48.5 cm. Sabatier 23. Colour printing. Three independent subjects forming a triptych. Very beautiful proofs on strong white vellum, with an exceptional freshness of colours, numbered and signed in pencil. Small remnants of gummed paper (old mounting) at the edges of the sheet on the back, with some rare associated tiny epiderminations. All margins [89,5 x 62,5 cm]. Edition of 180 proofs. Galerie Lelong, Paris, éd. Provenance: bought at the Galerie Lelong (with certificate dated July 15, 2004). This lithographed triptych is based on the painted triptych of the same subjects (oil and sand on canvas), kept at the Tate Gallery in London. The side panels show the figure of George Dyer, Bacon's lover since they met in 1963, who was found dead of alcohol and drugs in their Parisian hotel, two days before the opening of the great retrospective of the painter at the Grand Palais in Paris on October 26, 1971. Dyer is depicted seated, in white briefs, as in the photos of him taken by John Deakin in Bacon's studio, which the artist kept for the rest of his life. The motif of the interlaced bodies in the central panel is directly inspired by a photograph by E. Muybridge (1830-1904). The massive body, the object of mourning in love, is depicted in the process of being erased or decayed and even scratched, on the first panel, with a long gash across the black stone, an accident that occurred during the making of the work, which ultimately resembles more of the artist's almost violent intention. The flesh is pink, white and bluish grey, staged in a neutral and abstract space where the black of the funeral setting dominates.