Francis Bacon (1909-1992)
Unveiled in London in October during Frieze Art Week Never before seen in public in the UK
Christie’s have announced the sale of Francis Bacon’s ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’, which will go on display at Christie’s King Street during Frieze Art Week from October 13-18, before being at auction in New York on November 12.
‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’, executed in 1969 is a true masterpiece that marks Bacon and Freud’s relationship, paying tribute to the creative and emotional kinship between the two artists. The juxtaposition of radiant sunshine yellow contrasting with the brutal physicality and immediacy of the brushstrokes in this celebrated life-size triptych is what makes Bacon’s art so remarkable. ‘Three Studies of Lucian Freud’ stands as one of only two existing full-length triptychs of Lucian Freud. The three panels that make up this work were separated for almost fifteen years in the mid-1970s and were reunited in their entire splendor sometime in the 1980’s.”
Francis Outred, head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Christie’s Europe.
“Triptychs are the things I like doing most, and I think this may be related to the thought I’ve sometimes had of making a film. I like the juxtaposition of the images separated on three different canvases. So far as my work has any quality, I often feel perhaps it is the triptychs that have the best quality”
(F. Bacon, quoted in D. Sylvester, Looking back at Francis Bacon, London 2000).
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