Surrealism

Francis Bacon was born in Dublin on October 28, 1909. At the age of sixteen he moved to London and subsequently lived for about two years in Berlin and Paris. Although Bacon never attended art school, he began to draw and work in watercolor about 1926—27. Pablo Picasso’s work decisively influenced his painting until the mid-1940s. Upon Bacon’s return lo London in 1929 he established himself as a furniture designer and interior designer. He began to use oils in the fall of that year and exhibited furniture and rugs as well as a few paintings in his studio. His work was included in a group exhibition in London at the Mayor Gallery in 1933. In 1934 the artist organized his own first solo show at Sunderland House, London, which be called Transition Gallery for the occasion. he participated in a group show at Thomas Agnew and Sons in London in 1937.

Bacon painted relatively little after his solo show and in the 1930's and early 1940's destroyed many of his works. He began to paint intensively again in 1944. His first major solo show took place at the Hanover Gallery in London in 1949. From the mid194's to the 1950's Bacon’s work reflected the influence of Surrealism. In the 1950's Bacon drew on such sources as Velàzquez’s Portrait of Pope InnocentX, Vincent van Gogh’s The Painter on the Road to Tarascon,and Eadweard Muybridge’s photographs. His first solo exhibition outside England was held in 1953 at the Durlacher Brothers, New York. In 1950—51 and 1952 the artist traveled to South Africa. He visited Italy in 1954, when his work was featured in the British Pavilion at the Venice Biennale. His first retrospective was held at the Institute of Contemporary Art, London, in 1955. Bacon was given a solo show at the Sào Paolo Bienal in 1959. In 1962 the Tate Gallery, London, organized a major Bacon retrospective, a modified version of which traveled 10 Mannheim, Turin, Zurich, and Amsterdam. Other important exhibitions of his work were held at the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, New York, 10 1963 and the Grand Palais in Paris in 1971; paintings from 2968 CO 1974 were exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 1975. The artist died in Madrid April 28, 1992. ...

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