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Jun 7, 2007
Head
Head
1951
Francis Bacon
(British, 1909–1992)
Oil on canvas
Framed: 86 x 77 x 6 cm (33 7/8 x 30 5/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 62.9 x 53.3 cm (24 3/4 x 21 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1982.56
© Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London
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Description
Born in Dublin, Ireland, Bacon developed his signature motif of screaming heads trapped in glass or metal cages while working in London in the late 1940s and early ‘50s. The exploration of extreme states of emotion in these inwardly tortured figures reflects the influence of Surrealism. Bacon certainly knew Salvador Dalí‘s The Dream, a featured painting in the London International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936, and now displayed in this gallery. Bacon‘s isolated heads have strong affinities with the caged figures in the paintings and sculptures of his close friend, Alberto Giacometti.
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