ReviewBooks
Photographs, psychoanalysis and sex: four books provide enlightening studies of 'rock star' Francis Bacon
The artist seen from varied perspectives on his work and influences
BlogBook Club
An expert's guide to Francis Bacon: five must-read books on the post-war painter
All you ever wanted to know about the artist, from a deep dive into his chaotic studio to accounts of his exploits in seedy Soho—selected by the art historian Michael Peppiatt
BlogBook Club
What was the best art book you read in 2020? The Art Newspaper team reveals its favourite publications
From the catalogue for a controversial Guston show to a four-volume tome on Leonardo Da Vinci—and some lighter reads too
AnalysisArt market
Six of the best catalogues raisonnés
From Leonardo to Bacon, take your pick from a selection of essential texts on leading artists
BlogThe Buck stopped here
Francis Bacon's legacy continued by new unconventional publishing company
NewsExhibitions
Major Francis Bacon show to explore how animals fuelled artist's fascination with flesh
The exhibition Francis Bacon: Man and Beast at the Royal Academy of Arts in London next year will include the artist's final work—a painting of a bull
Featurecoronavirus
Significant art emerged from traumas of the past—will the pandemic prove different?
As the coronavirus crisis stretches on, we look at how artists have captured confinement in recent history and what is being done now
NewsObituaries
Photographer Peter Beard—friend and muse to Bacon and Warhol—has died aged 82
His body was found almost three weeks after he disappeared from his home in Montauk on the East End of Long Island
NewsSotheby's
Sotheby’s to offer $60m Francis Bacon triptych in May New York sales
The work comes from the collection of the Norweigan shipping heir Hans Rasmus Astrup and is the second major coup for the auction house’s spring sales season
AnalysisArt market
US banker buys Brexit Banksy at Sotheby's, making a bigger splash than David Hockney’s pool painting
Auction house fields a steady contemporary evening sale in London
ReviewBooks
A neuroscientist's view: how Bacon's paintings shake up the nervous system
Publication focuses on what neuroscience and psychology bring to the table with the late artist's works
PreviewExhibitions
From blasphemer to bookworm: Paris show reframes Francis Bacon's later works
Exhibition at the Centre Pompidou focuses on the artist’s post-pope period, which has received less critical examination
NewsAuctions
Flipping the Bacon: Sotheby's £69m post-war and contemporary sale lacks fizz
A £16m Francis Bacon self-portrait and a record for a little-known German artist enliven an otherwise dry sale in London as totals fall 40% on last year
ReviewThree to see
Three exhibitions to see in London this weekend
From the little-known Renaissance painter Bartolomé Bermejo at the National Gallery to the Hayward Gallery's huge group show exploring gender fluidity
NewsArt market
British artists dominate Christie's patchy £71.1m sale, as over-priced Koons and Richter fail to sell
Francis Bacon's lighter depiction of George Dyer leads auction at £17.5m, with strong prices for Hurvin Anderson, Bridget Riley and Albert Oehlen
NewsThree to see
Three to See: Basel
From a gesamtkunstwerk designed to awaken the senses to a five-decade survey of Bruce Nauman
Podcast
Podcast episode 35: Freud, Bacon, Hockney and the post-war London scene; and Signals gallery
We talk to Martin Gayford about his book Modernists and Mavericks and sitting for portraits by Freud and Hockney. And we explore a show celebrating the Signals gallery, where Latin American and European avant-gardes converged.
PreviewExhibitions
Bacon and Giacometti go head to head in show at Fondation Beyeler
Swiss museum hosts first major comparative exhibition of the two artists
NewsArt market
Francis Bacon's $30m portrait of George Dyer shown in London for first time in 40 years
Painting of artist’s lover and muse comes to auction for the first time at Christie’s New York in May
NewsReligion
Star Wars art installation in London church relocated following parishioner complaints
The stormtrooper on a cross is part of an exhibition due to open to the public on Thursday
NewsArt market
Phillips and Sotheby's deliver healthy totals for contemporary art
Capping an epic week of auctions, solid results featuring records for female artists and a Ferrari bode well for market's future—so long as it doesn't overheat
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon and his inspiration at the Hermitage
See the conversation in Norwich exhibition next Spring
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Conversations with Bacon: Marking Grey Gowrie's 75th birthday with his poem on the artist
Gowrie, a former UK arts minister, art dealer and chair of Sotheby’s and the Arts Council, is also a poet
ArchiveExhibitions
UK-Russia Bacon show goes on…
…but British government officially pulls out of joint Year of Culture
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon collector to build Monaco home for works
Majid Boustany owns paintings executed from the 1920s to the 1980s, as well as design objects and exhibition catalogues
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon estate says lover’s brother sold fakes
New details emerge in British courts about disputed drawings that first emerged in Italy
ArchiveExhibitions
Unexpected chemistry between Moore and Bacon on show at the Ashmolean
This show compares the two artists, revealing that the painter even asked the sculptor for lessons
ArchiveAuthentication
Not a Bacon, expert tells court: The debate around Bacon's drawings continues
The chairman of the artist’s catalogue raisonné committee dismisses controversial drawings as “pastiches” in UK bankruptcy hearing
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Books: Francis Bacon, metaphysician
A new book considers the theological dimensions of the artist’s paintings
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Exhibitions: Bacon goes down under with the Art Gallery of New South Wales
Francis Bacon’s Australian connections are explored
ArchiveFrieze
Spotlight: an alternative canon of 20th-century art or savvy sales strategy?
Frieze Masters both embraces and challenges the idea of 'masters'
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Controversial Bacon drawings displayed in London
The works were set to be displayed at a now cancelled authentication debate
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Courtauld's Bacon debate on disputed drawings axed
Cristiano Lovatelli Ravarino's collection of drawings has been a hot topic in the art world
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
The Courtauld Institute and the Francis Bacon Estate discuss disputed Bacon drawings
A Courtauld conference will investigate works on paper said to be by the artist. Owner’s side to offer legal immunity
ArchiveMedia & broadcast
Blind bids, flogging Bacon and a fisherman’s find come to the small screen
Three programmes that turn the art world over to reality television
ArchivePhotography
Photographer Eadweard Muybridge subject of new biography and exhibition catalogue
The “discoverer” of animal locomotion influenced artists including Francis Bacon
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Mystery over who made the “Francis Bacon” rugs
New research poses more questions than answers over possible attributions for items that were withdrawn from March sale
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon, Man in Blue VI, 1954
(est £4m-£6m), unsold
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
“Dear Ronnie”: letter from Bacon in Kray sale
The auction took place on 26th January
ArchivePhillips
Contemporary sales, London: Phillips struggles in bid to lead auction week
But Bacon brings profitable business to Christie’s and Sotheby’s
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon show for Zhukova and Abramovich's CCC Moscow
Having set a record for the artist at auction, the collectors put the art to work
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon claims his place at the top of the market
As Tate Britain opens a major travelling retrospective, we examine the factors underpinning the meteoric rise in prices for the artist’s work and reveal the identity of his biggest collectors
ArchiveArt market
British Art Auction report: The Bacon and Freud effect
Recent record prices for the two artists boosted results for 20th-century British works, while Victorian art struggled
ArchiveCollectors
Roman Abramovich brings home the $86.3m Bacon and the $33.6m Freud
The London-based Russian billionaire has bought the record-breaking works; he has not previously been known to collect art
ArchiveLucian Freud
Freud's new drawings leave Bacon unzipped
Freud drawings revealed at Frieze
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Portrait of Bacon’s lover to be auctioned
Isabel Rawsthorne diptych on the block at Sotheby's
ArchiveArt schools
RCA to sell Bacon as part of fundraising campaign
Proceeds will go towards new campus in Battersea
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon “rubbish” including sketches and diaries makes £1m at auction
An alternative end for the rubbish that was to be thrown out from Bacon’s famously chaotic studio at 7 Reese Mews in London
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Rediscovered Bacon “rubbish” could fetch £50,000
Documents and paintings will be sold at a country auction
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Comment: Bacon sources
A reply to Barbara Steffen
ArchiveMaggi Hambling
Books: The life, times and conversation of Maggi Hambling, “the female Francis Bacon”
The first chart of Hambling’s extraordinary 60 years
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Author chosen for Bacon catalogue
Diplomacy will be required to deal with warring factions
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
No simple explanation of Bacon's works to be found in his sources, as explained by Bacon authority Martin Harrison
Not least due to the flawed description of the contents of the artist’s studio
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
A solution found to Tehran's controversial Bacon triptych
Getting minds out of the gutter - despite Bacon's wishes to be there himself
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Two Bacons may share more than an interest in portraiture
See for yourself as Sir Nathaniel Bacon and Francis Bacon go on show in London
ArchiveRobert Tuttle
Interview with Ambassador Tuttle and Mrs Tuttle: His favourite artist is Francis Bacon, hers is Agnes Martin
The new US ambassador and his wife on a marriage spent collecting
ArchiveBooks
Books: Sutherland and Bacon, a story of friends disuniting
Graham Sutherland and Francis Bacon compared and contrasted
ArchiveMedia & broadcast
Arts on television: Bacon and Hirst as the bad boys of British art
Damien Hirst has carried on Francis Bacon’s violent legacy of “guts, blood and spunk”, but denies any direct inspiration
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Books: Francis Bacon’s passion for the camera
This is the first study of the painter’s use of photography
ArchiveFrancis Bacon Estate
Bacon Estate forces Musée Picasso to banish Joule material to basement
The drawings will also be in their own catalogue, separate to the rest of the exhibition
ArchiveFrancis Bacon Estate
The bacon estate and what's left of it
Partner’s will published
ArchiveBritish Art
Contemporary auction sales report: British art makes the great leap
Bacon and Auerbach triumphed as Sotheby’s and Christie’s racked up impressive totals
ArchiveTate
Rain causes Bacon alert at Tate
“Two figures lying on a bed with attendants” removed
ArchiveTate
Tate acquires Bacon archive
Barry Joule collection makes its way into public hands
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Is Tehran’s Bacon coming to London?
Tate hopes to secure the hidden gem
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon and the tradition of art
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
ArchiveArtist interview
Francis Giacobetti interviews Francis Bacon: “I painted to be loved”
The last summing up, two months before he died, by the greatest Irish painter of the 20th century in an interview with the photographer Francis Giacobetti
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon’s heir dies
Solicitors for John Edwards’ estate deny that his lover has inherited the art
ArchiveArt market
Contemporary sales report: Storm warnings prove inaccurate
Problematic Warhols hinder Christie’s but Sotheby’s sparkles with Richter Riley, Barceló and Flanaghan
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon’s paintings of Van Gogh gather in Arles
Fondation Vincent van Gogh assembles the surviving paintings in this series
ArchiveFrancis Bacon Estate
The Estate of Francis Bacon drops legal action against Marlborough
No evidence of blackmail, and video shows the artist satisfied with his gallery
ArchiveArt market
Post-War and Contemporary sale report: where have all the Warhols gone?
Record prices for Andreas Gursky, Peter Doig, Luciano Fabro and Douglas Gordon
ArchivePerry Odgen
Perry Ogden's photographs of Francis Bacon’s Studio on show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery
Inside 7 Reece Mews
ArchiveBooks
Perry Ogden, John Edwards, 7 Reece Mews
Francis Bacon’s studio (Thames & Hudson, London, 2001), 129 pp, 60 col. ills £14.95 (hb) ISBN 0500510342.
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Freud ramps up efforts to find Bacon portrait stolen in Berlin
A poster campaign has been launched to recover the work which disappeared from the Neue Nationalgalerie
ArchiveDisputes
Bacon Estate v. Marlborough gallery to go to High Court in January
Litigation may reveal the operations of one of London’s leading galleries and its Liechtenstein subsidiary
ArchiveBooks
What's on in London: The house that crashed on Japan and other urban dilemmas
Bacon lithographs at Coskun, Euan Uglow at Browse and Darby and Albers at Waddingtons
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon estate bans reproductions of images in Barbican exhibition
Tate lends Bacon works on paper for comparison with disputed works but comparative photos of Tate works are not allowed
ArchiveMarlborough
Marlborough wins suit against Schwitters estate
Bacon executor denies parallels with its own case
ArchiveExhibitions
The Joule Archive to go on show at Barbican: Will the real Mr Bacon please stand up?
A second exhibition of Barry Joule’s collection, left to him by Francis Bacon his former neighbour, is still a matter of dispute with the Bacon Estate
ArchiveBooks
Books: Francis Bacon and the sudden experience of eye-opening words
David Sylvester reevaluates violence
ArchiveFrancis Bacon Estate
Marlborough sued over Bacon estate
Artist allegedly exploited and heir denied his inheritance
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Correction: Barry Joule Bacon drawings under consideration for Irish Museum of Art
The drawings will be displayed as “attributed to F. Bacon”
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
The show that dares not speak its name: Francis Bacon estate intervenes in new Dublin show
The Joule archive drawings continue to cause contention
ArchiveInterviews
Interview with John Richardson: His new memoirs as Cubism’s Falstaff
Richardson talks about his mentor and one time lover, Douglas Cooper—fiendish and funny art historian, aesthete and champion of Cubism
ArchiveFrancis Bacon Estate
Interview with Brian Clarke on the Bacon estate: In litigation mode
The new sole executor of Bacon's estate talks in his first public interview about the teams of lawyers now working to see that the artist’s beneficiary, John Edwards, receives precisely what Francis intended him to receive. And that is everything
ArchiveBooks
Books: The market muscles its way back onto the agenda, with Bacon and the body keeping pace
Mammon’s shrine in the groves of academe
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon's rare drawings to go on show at the Tate
The Tate unveils its previously unknown Bacon drawings to the world while two US museums present new views of the blockbuster British artist
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon sizzles in New York as newly discovered works go on display at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery
The exhibition notably shuns the Marlborough gallery, which represented the artist throughout his life
ArchiveMedia & broadcast
Art in the media: The people’s painting—only what we deserve
Komar and Melamid reveal what we like, Tory politician Jeffrey Archer speculates in Warhols, fictional Bacon somewhat censored, and Britain’s own intellectual, Jonathan Miller, on reflection
ArchiveExhibitions
Portraiture and physiognomy exhibition shows Leonardo as the father of Western soul-searching
The relationship between painting and physiognomy explored in Milan, from Da Vinci to Bacon
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Putting Bacon in the pictures: 'Love is the Devil' to be released 18 September
London artists Tracey Emin, Gary Hume and Gillian Wearing play bit-parts
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Bacon vs Bacon: Debate over the authenticity of Cristiano Ravarino's drawings goes to court
The case is particularly difficult given the scarcity of drawings by the artist
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Francis Bacon is the subject of two new exhibitions just a year and a half after major retrospective
Bringing home Bacon—again
ArchiveBooks
Books: Small revelations only on lives of Duchamp, Johns, and Bacon
The recent biographies of these art-world giants promise much but aside from anecdotes little is shown of the subjects’ inner lives
ArchiveExhibitions
Basel beckons: from Bacon to Warhol, the cream of twentieth-century art on view
Europe’s grandest modern art fair will be bigger than ever this year, with collectors and museum curators from all over the world
ArchiveFrancis Bacon
Pompidou Bacon survey makes its way to Munich
David Sylvester’s comprehensive survey includes works which Bacon himself tried to destroy