Francis 

Bacon’s “Painting” (1946)
By Terry Roethlein

Francis Bacon’s “Painting,” from 1946, is a work that

formally and thematically challenges, and at times subverts,

much   of   classical   and   modern   art.   “Painting”   is   oil   and

pastel on canvas and is decidedly a post­World War Two work.

The aggressively political nature of the piece is a feature

akin   to   the   more   opinionated   works   of   Goya   and   Picasso,

shunning the religious content of most works before it. The

piece’s painterly style is related most closely to Rembrandt

and   Picasso   and   opposes   not   only   the   refined,   distanced,

pristine taste of Raphael but also the delicate emotionality

of Monet. 

The central figure of the painting is a grotesque man,

or   half­man,   half­monster,   floating   within   a   ground   of

predominantly black, pink and violet hues. The man strongly

suggests the persona of a 1940’s British politician, wearing

a black businessman’s suit that bears a yellow boutonniere

on   the   left   lapel.   His   head   is   also   covered   by   a   black

umbrella. All three items denote the very professional and

conservative qualities of a British minister or lord, with

the   bright   yellow   of   the   boutonniere   providing   a   garish

contrast   to   the   brooding   black   that   dominates   the   figure,

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swirling   ominously   at   the   center   of   the   canvas.   The   most

alarming   feature   of   the   “politician”   is   the   face,   half­

obscured   by   the   shadow   of   the   umbrella   (the   common

accoutrement of the London businessman), with only the grey­

skinned   mouth,   chin   and   jaw   emerging   from   the   gloom.   The

mouth   is   half­cocked   in   a   snarl,   its   jaws   open,   exposing

razor­like   teeth   and   blood­red   gums,   as   if   the   too­human

feature of lips has been torn away. The white collar, tie

and   boutonniere,   just   below   the   chin,   give   the   figure   a

patina of manhood, but the wolfish gape of the mouth betrays

its actual sinister and bloodthirsty nature.

Bacon’s negative opinion of the war and the politicians

that   encouraged   soldiers   to   kill   and   be   killed   in   it   is

centered on the snaggle­toothed figure but enhanced by the

slaughterhouse   setting   in   which   the   figure   dwells.   Behind

the politician is a cruciform cow carcass, a side of beef

stretched between both ends of the painting and hanging from

above.   Also   suspended   from   the   imagined   ceiling   are

glistening coils of intestines, hanging like garlands. With

these   creative   uses   of   meat   as   decoration,   Bacon   suggests

the horrific, festive air that the political class gave the

war in order to make it publicly palatable. The additional

body parts and sides of beef that litter the bottom half of

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the painting, however, confirm the artist’s judgment of an

elite   that   has   blood   on   its   hands.   Pairs   of   kidney­like

organs stick up from a steel rack in front of the figure,

while a roast and a side of ribs hang from a circular spit.

The floor below appears to be littered with green, red and

white bits of gristle and flesh. Bacon’s palate of rose and

violet dominate the background, suggesting the hollowed­out

cavity of a butchered animal, or a butchered man. 

Three window shades hang on the left, center and right

sections of the background. These may suggest the “blinds”

that   have   been   pulled   to   aver   the   public’s   vision   of   the

carnage that goes on during war, or they may refer to the

movie   screens   used   to   project   images   of   the   German   death

camps   that   the   public   was   allowed   to   view   after   the   war.

Indeed,   right   below   the   left   and   right   screens   are   what

appear to be barbed wire­topped prison walls, which suggest

a   perspective   that   is   obliterated   by   the   dominating

politician and his trappings of gore. 

Clearly,   with   this   painting   Bacon   has   abandoned   the

respectful   religious   and   political   allegiances   of   past

masters,   who   would   never   depict   such   a   blatantly   damning

critique of a leader. In “Painting,” Bacon echoes works by

Goya such as “The Disasters of War” or “The Second of May,

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1808,” in which the hideous nature of war and its toll on

the   common   man   are   evidenced.   Bacon   is   also   most   likely

influenced by Picasso’s 1937 work “Guernica,” a depiction of

the   fascist   bombing   of   Basque   Spain.   Both   artists   use   an

abstracted but obviously biased and terror­inducing style to

indict war. 

Bacon has also done away with the academically­approved

stylistic systems that Alberti instituted and Michelangelo

and Raphael perfected. Here there is no idealization of the

human form or perfection in nature. Rules of perspective and

circumscription   are   ignored,   although   the   painting   has

strong composition and the reception of light is imbued with

a large amount of contrast.   Bacon’s liberal use of shadow

(surrounding the politician, engulfing the side of beef, and

filling   the   center   of   the   painting)   are   suggestive   of

Rembrandt’s use of deep shadow, while the subject matter of

carcasses   and   screens   is   reminiscent   of   the   master’s

depiction   of   an   anatomy   theater   in   1632’s   “The   Anatomy

Lesson   of   Dr.   Nicholaes   Tulp.”   The   figure   floating   on   an

unsteady ground and the disembodied nature of the figure are

related to Picasso’s 1907 “Les Demoiselles d'Avignon,” whose

figures are also not at rest and whose limbs fade in and out

of connection to their body. 

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 Monet’s   impressionistic   use   of   paint   is   obviously   a

precursor   to   abstractionists   like   Bacon,   with   cursory

brushstrokes that are a primary feature of Bacon’s rendering

of objects such as the meat rack. But Monet’s light­dappled,

bright, and delicately applied brushwork is quite refined in

comparison to the heavy handed, lurid swathes of color that

Bacon applies.   Hence, Bacon uses the basic innovations of

Monet, the early modernist, but also draws on a respected

master like Rembrandt, in his mission to topple not only the

institution of political figures but also that of painterly

academe.