The Grimaldi Forum, Monaco presents a major exhibition, Francis Bacon, Monaco and French Culture from 2 July to 4 September 2016. The exhibition, curated by Martin Harrison, editor of the Francis Bacon Catalogue Raisonné, takes place with the support of The Estate of Francis Bacon in London, and the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation based in Monaco.
Francis Bacon’s cultural orientation was, to an extraordinary degree, towards France, and The Grimaldi Forum exhibition explores the artist’s work from this unique angle: the important influence of French art and culture on Bacon’s work, and his years in Monaco that had a crucial impact on his oeuvre. Major triptychs as well as famous and less well-known paintings are displayed thematically and show direct and indirect relationships to France and Monaco. One of the features of this exhibition is to cross-reference major works of the masters who inspired the artist.
The exhibition brings together sixty-six paintings by Bacon himself alongside works by leading artists who inspired him, including Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Giacometti, Rodin, Léger and Soutine. Major loans from public collections around the world include Head VI (1949) from the Arts Council England, the extraordinary Fragment of a Crucifixion (1950,Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven),
and Pope I(1951, Aberdeen Art Gallery).
There are also a number of works, many rarely if ever displayed, from private collections, including
the triptych, Studies of the Human Body(1970), Turning Figure(1962), and Portrait of a Man Walking Down Steps(1972), Bacon’s most poignant tribute to George Dyer, painted shortly after his death.
The exhibition includes – for the first time – Francis Bacon’s first work, Watercolour (1929, Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation) and Bacon’s last painting, completed in 1991, the never- before-exhibited
Study of a Bull (1991, Private Collection).
Tate dedicated two retrospectives to the artist during his lifetime, in 1962 and 1985, but Francis Bacon regarded the retrospective at the Grand Palais in 1971 as the most significant of his career. Only Picasso had the similar honour of a retrospective held during his lifetime at the Grand Palais, in 1966.
A book accompanying the exhibition, Francis Bacon: France and Monaco, edited by Martin Harrison, is co-published by Albin Michel and The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation, in partnership with HENI Publishing for non-francophone countries, on 30 June 2016.
The exhibition will travel to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao from 30 September 2016 to 8 January 2017, focusing on the artist’s relationship with Spain.
FRANCIS BACON IN MONACO AND FRANCE
Francis Bacon (born in Dublin in 1909, died in Madrid in 1992, lived in London, Paris and Monaco) was immediately taken with French culture when he made his first visit to Paris in his teens. In the spring of 1927, aged 17, he spent time in Chantilly and in that same year, when visiting an exhibition at the Paul Rosenberg Gallery, he encountered Picasso’s works which inspired him to take up painting.
Later, after selling Painting 1946 to Erica Brausen, who was to become his art dealer two years later, Bacon left London for the Principality of Monaco in July 1946, and lived there until the early fifties. It was in Monaco that he painted his first “pope”, mainly inspired by Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, there that he started to paint on the reverse of his canvas, and there that he began to concentrate his work on the human form. It was a decisive stage in his career, which led him to being recognised as one of the most enigmatic post-war figurative artists.
Bacon returned frequently throughout his life to Monaco and the South of France. In the fifties and the sixties he often came with his circle of friends from London’s Soho and from Wivenhoe. For the following twenty years he could often be seen with his Parisian friends and with John Edwards, both his muse and his companion. In 1975 he took a studio apartment in Paris, which he kept until 1987. There he executed numerous portraits of his Parisian friends, notably Michel Leiris and Jacques Dupin.
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Francis Bacon
Study of a Dog, 1952
Oil on canvas
198,1 x 137,2 cm Presented by Eric Hall 1952 Tate, London
© Tate, London 2016
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Francis Bacon
Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh, 1957
Oil on canvas
198,1 x 142,2 cm
Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
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Francis Bacon
Turning Figure, 1962
Oil on canvas
198 x 144,5 cm
Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
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Francis Bacon
Studies of the Human Body, 1970
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm Private Collection, Courtesy Ordovas
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
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Francis Bacon
Portrait of a Man Walking Down Steps, 1972
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm
Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
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Francis Bacon
Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976
Huile sur toile. 35,5 x 30,5 cm
Donation Louise et Michel Leiris, 1984 Centre Pompidou, Paris - Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
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Francis Bacon
Study of a Bull, 1991
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon.
All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Francis Bacon (born in Dublin in 1909, died in Madrid in 1992, lived in London, Paris and Monaco) was immediately taken with French culture when he made his first visit to Paris in his teens. In the spring of 1927, aged 17, he spent time in Chantilly and in that same year, when visiting an exhibition at the Paul Rosenberg Gallery, he encountered Picasso’s works which inspired him to take up painting.
Later, after selling Painting 1946 to Erica Brausen, who was to become his art dealer two years later, Bacon left London for the Principality of Monaco in July 1946, and lived there until the early fifties. It was in Monaco that he painted his first “pope”, mainly inspired by Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X, there that he started to paint on the reverse of his canvas, and there that he began to concentrate his work on the human form. It was a decisive stage in his career, which led him to being recognised as one of the most enigmatic post-war figurative artists.
Bacon returned frequently throughout his life to Monaco and the South of France. In the fifties and the sixties he often came with his circle of friends from London’s Soho and from Wivenhoe. For the following twenty years he could often be seen with his Parisian friends and with John Edwards, both his muse and his companion. In 1975 he took a studio apartment in Paris, which he kept until 1987. There he executed numerous portraits of his Parisian friends, notably Michel Leiris and Jacques Dupin.
Francis Bacon
Watercolour, 1929
Pencil, black ink, watercolour and gouache
21 x 13 cm
MB Art Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
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Francis Bacon
Head VI, 1949
Oil on canvas
93,2 x 76,5 cm
Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
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Francis Bacon
Fragment of a Crucifixion, 1950
Oil and cotton wool on canvas
158,4 x 127,4 cm
Collection Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
Watercolour, 1929
Pencil, black ink, watercolour and gouache
21 x 13 cm
MB Art Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Francis Bacon
Head VI, 1949
Oil on canvas
93,2 x 76,5 cm
Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Francis Bacon
Fragment of a Crucifixion, 1950
Oil and cotton wool on canvas
158,4 x 127,4 cm
Collection Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
Francis Bacon
Study of a Dog, 1952
Oil on canvas
198,1 x 137,2 cm Presented by Eric Hall 1952 Tate, London
© Tate, London 2016
Francis Bacon
Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh, 1957
Oil on canvas
198,1 x 142,2 cm
Arts Council Collection, Southbank Centre, London
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Francis Bacon
Turning Figure, 1962
Oil on canvas
198 x 144,5 cm
Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Francis Bacon
Studies of the Human Body, 1970
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm Private Collection, Courtesy Ordovas
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
Francis Bacon
Portrait of a Man Walking Down Steps, 1972
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm
Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016
Francis Bacon
Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976
Huile sur toile. 35,5 x 30,5 cm
Donation Louise et Michel Leiris, 1984 Centre Pompidou, Paris - Musée national d'art moderne/Centre de création industrielle
© The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Francis Bacon
Study of a Bull, 1991
Oil on canvas
198 x 147,5 cm Private Collection
© The Estate of Francis Bacon.
All rights reserved, DACS 2016.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd