FRANCIS BACON 1909-1992
Dublin 1909 - 1992 Madrid (Irish / British)

Title: Triptych inspired by Orestia of Aeschylus, 1979-1981

Technique: Original Hand Signed and Numbered Lithograph on Arches vellum paper

Paper size: 103.5 x 53.2 cm / 40.7 x 20.9 in

Additional Information: This is lithograph by Francis Bacon is hand signed in pencil by the artist "Francis Bacon" at the lower right margin, as well as hand numbered in pencil "19/150" at the lower left margin.
It was published by Editions de la Différence, Paris between 1979 to 1981 in limited edition of 150 hand signed and numbered impressions. There were a further 10 artist proofs.
The paper bears the dry stamp of "Art Litho Paris" at the lower left corner.

Provenance: Corporate collection, Spain.
Purchased directly from the publisher.

Condition: Very Good condition. a soft crease in the upper right part.

'Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus' from 1981 belongs to Bacon's late period. In contrast to his earlier dark works in a minor key, paintings denoted by pale human bodies and anguished, screaming faces, his later works are dominated by stronger colours, clearer forms and often a greater complexity of pictorial elements. Although angst and violence are insistently present here too, the images are less explicitly related to the post-war period's existentialistic keynote.
The choice of the triptych format is typical of Bacon: tripartite works whose structure refers to the church altar-piece and cross. Thus, an element of suffering and martyrdom is embedded in the work. Otherwise we find few references to Christian symbolism and what is expressed belongs, without any doubt, to a more secularized and agnostic age. The theme of human vulnerability and suffering is presented in more general terms. Also characteristic of Bacon is the stage-like, absurd situation description and his concentration on twisted, distorted figures, de-individualized figures containing elements of animals, monsters and embryos. The pictorial space is organized as a shallow, decorative interior, sparsely equipped and with exits resembling dark, bottomless pits. A sense of isolation and the slightly claustrophobic space situation is reinforced by cage-like constructions: these, too, a leitmotiv in Bacon's world of imagery. A tendency towards distortion, decomposition and overstepping boundaries is palpable, but in spite of this, the purely painterly-aesthetic, decorative effect is maintained. The reference to an exterior, disturbing reality is confronted by the picture's own, more seductive reality. In the central form in the middle painting, the buttocks and legs of a figure intertwine with the contours of a heart in beautiful, colouristic areas with added decorative touches of spluttered white paint. Fragmentation and psycho-sexual implications are striking. An aggressive row of teeth leads down into a womb-like body cavity. On the right the body, dwelling place of the soul and self, literally spills out and becomes a flowing, undefinable fluid...
Bacon has chosen what is undoubtedly the most violent and bloody drama in classical literature as the basis for his image. With its succession of revengeful murders and ever-threatening undertones of ruin, both violence and vulnerability are also obtrusive in Aeschylus' Orestes trilogy, but how does the relationship between the Oresteia and Bacon's work function? The tripartite picture sequence and play-acting figures suggest an element of narrative and allegory, but the painterly expression is more in the nature of the indefinable and equivocal. By the way the figures are faced and the position of the properties, attention is drawn towards the the work's centre field. The frontal, iconic structure and references to the cross and the Oresteia suggest a sacrificial theme, while at the same time the figure appears to be performing on a stage, throne or scaffold. This central figure also appears to be the scene of conflicting forces. It is not without reason that the blood-red runner stretching out from the background leads one's thoughts to Bacon's earlier pictures of popes in enclosed spaces...
Although certain features may be related to the Oresteia, the work's readable narrative and symbolic references are reduced to a minimum. Greater emphasis has been laid on a direct and immediate experience of the painterly expression. Seen in this light, Bacon appears to have more in common with the abstract painters who were his contemporaries than with his old-master predecessors.