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Untitled (Kneeling figure, 1982)

Oil on canvas

198 x 147.5 cm

The Estate of Francis Bacon Collection

Kneeling Figure (c.1982) draws on a theme Bacon investigated between

1979 and 1984: Oedipus and The Sphinx.

In these fragmented torsos, painted with a complex blurring of gender

distinctions, Bacon incorporated some of his most powerful representations

of shifting sexual orientation.

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Francis Bacon, Figure in Sea, circa 1957. Oil on canvas.

Bacon’s ‘Figure in Sea’ circa 1957 is one of only two surviving seascapes,

and was the starting point for the show’s selection process.

Ordovas believe that it is thought Bacon intended to add to the lightly present

structure outlined in the sea. ‘Figure in Sea’ remained unrecorded until it

was discovered in 1997 a number of years after Bacon had passed away.

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Study for a Portrait March 1991

1991

Oil and pastel on canvas

198.00 x 147.50 cm

National Galleries of Scotland

This is one of the last paintings Bacon completed. It is the second in a

series of three portraits of his friend, the artist Anthony Zych.

Zych appears to be standing in a doorway, possibly that of the artist’s studio.

The camera tripod is an element repeated from the central panel of a triptych

painted in 1944. Bacon’s portraits were almost without exception of people

with whom he was familiar. He preferred to paint his subjects not from life

but from photographs. This was the first painting by Bacon to enter the

collection of the Modern One.

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