{"id":151896,"date":"2025-09-12T17:07:07","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:07:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/151896\/"},"modified":"2025-09-12T17:07:07","modified_gmt":"2025-09-12T17:07:07","slug":"the-horrifying-paintings-of-francis-bacon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/151896\/","title":{"rendered":"The Horrifying Paintings of Francis Bacon"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

Men\u00adtion Fran\u00adcis Bacon<\/a>, and you some\u00adtimes have to clar\u00adi\u00adfy which one you mean: the twen\u00adti\u00adeth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry painter, or the sev\u00aden\u00adteenth-cen\u00adtu\u00adry philoso\u00adpher? Despite how much time sep\u00ada\u00adrat\u00aded their lives, the two men aren\u2019t with\u00adout their con\u00adnec\u00adtions. One may actu\u00adal\u00adly have been a descen\u00addant of the oth\u00ader, if you cred\u00adit the artist\u2019s father\u2019s claim of rela\u00adtion to the Eliz\u00ada\u00adbethan intel\u00adlec\u00adtu\u00adal\u2019s half-broth\u00ader. Bet\u00adter doc\u00adu\u00adment\u00aded is how the more recent Fran\u00adcis Bacon made a con\u00adnec\u00adtion to the time of the more dis\u00adtant one, by paint\u00ading his own ver\u00adsions of Diego Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s Por\u00adtrait of Inno\u00adcent X.<\/a> We refer, of course, to his \u201cscream\u00ading popes,\u201d the sub\u00adject of the new Hochela\u00adga video above<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Hochela\u00adga cre\u00adator Tom\u00admie Trelawny puts it, \u201cno image cap\u00adtured his imag\u00adi\u00adna\u00adtion more\u201d than Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s depic\u00adtion of Pope Inno\u00adcent X<\/a>, which is \u201ccon\u00adsid\u00adered to be one of the finest works in West\u00adern art.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bacon\u2019s ver\u00adsion from 1953<\/a>, after he\u2019d more than estab\u00adlished him\u00adself in the Eng\u00adlish art scene, is \u201ca ter\u00adri\u00adble and fright\u00aden\u00ading inver\u00adsion of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal. The Pope screams as if elec\u00adtro\u00adcut\u00aded in his gold\u00aden throne. Vio\u00adlent brush\u00adstrokes sweep across the can\u00advas like bars of a cage, strip\u00adping away all sense of grandeur and leav\u00ading only bru\u00adtal\u00adi\u00adty and pain.\u201d In many ways, this har\u00adrow\u00ading image came as the nat\u00adur\u00adal meet\u00ading of exist\u00ading cur\u00adrents in Bacon\u2019s work, which had already drawn from the his\u00adto\u00adry of Chris\u00adt\u00adian art and employed a vari\u00adety of anguished, iso\u00adlat\u00aded fig\u00adures.<\/p>\n

Unsur\u00adpris\u00ading\u00adly, Bacon\u2019s Study after Vel\u00e1zquez\u2019s Por\u00adtrait of Pope Inno\u00adcent X inspired all man\u00adner of con\u00adtro\u00adver\u00adsy. The artist him\u00adself denied all inter\u00adpre\u00adta\u00adtions of its sup\u00adposed impli\u00adca\u00adtions, insist\u00ading that \u201crecre\u00adat\u00ading this papal por\u00adtrait was sim\u00adply an aes\u00adthet\u00adic choice: art for the sake of art.\u201d In any case, he fol\u00adlowed it up with about 50 more scream\u00ading popes, each of which \u201cembod\u00adies a dif\u00adfer\u00adent facet of human dark\u00adness.\u201d These and the many oth\u00ader works of art Bacon cre\u00adat\u00aded pro\u00adlif\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly until his death in 1992 reflect what seems to have been his own trou\u00adbled soul and per\u00adpet\u00adu\u00adal\u00adly dis\u00ador\u00addered life. His style changed over the decades, becom\u00ading some\u00adwhat soft\u00ader and less aggres\u00adsive\u00adly dis\u00adturb\u00ading, sug\u00adgest\u00ading that his demons may have gone into at least par\u00adtial retreat. But could any\u00adone capa\u00adble of paint\u00ading the scream\u00ading popes ever tru\u00adly have lost touch with the abyss?<\/p>\n

Relat\u00aded con\u00adtent:<\/p>\n

The Bril\u00adliant\u00adly Night\u00admar\u00adish Art & Trou\u00adbled Life of Painter Fran\u00adcis Bacon<\/a><\/p>\n

Fran\u00adcis Bacon on The South Bank Show: A Sin\u00adgu\u00adlar Pro\u00adfile of the Sin\u00adgu\u00adlar Painter<\/a><\/p>\n

William Bur\u00adroughs Meets Fran\u00adcis Bacon: See Nev\u00ader-Broad\u00adcast Footage (1982)<\/a><\/p>\n

The \u201cDark Relics\u201d of Chris\u00adtian\u00adi\u00adty: Pre\u00adserved Skulls, Blood & Oth\u00ader Grim Arti\u00adfacts<\/a><\/p>\n

The Scream Explained: What\u2019s Real\u00adly Hap\u00adpen\u00ading in Edvard Munch\u2019s World-Famous Paint\u00ading<\/a><\/p>\n

When There Were Three Popes at Once: An Ani\u00admat\u00aded Video Drawn in the Style of Medieval Illu\u00admi\u00adnat\u00aded Man\u00adu\u00adscript<\/a><\/p>\n

Based in Seoul, Col\u00adin<\/a>\u00a0M<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>\u00a0writes and broad\u00adcasts on cities, lan\u00adguage, and cul\u00adture. His projects include the Sub\u00adstack newslet\u00adter\u00a0Books on Cities<\/a>\u00a0and the book\u00a0The State\u00adless City: a Walk through 21st-Cen\u00adtu\u00adry Los Ange\u00adles.\u00a0Fol\u00adlow him on the social net\u00adwork for\u00admer\u00adly known as Twit\u00adter at\u00a0@colinm<\/a>a<\/a>rshall<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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