Francis Bacon English, born Ireland, 1909–1992 · 1954

Figure with Meat

Francis Bacon English, born Ireland, 1909–1992

Figure with Meat

1954

Francis Bacon's 'Figure with Meat' (1954) belongs to Bacon's 'Screaming Popes' series, pairing a seated figure in the pose of Velázquez's 'Portrait of Innocent X' with two hanging sides of beef behind him. The sharp psychological distortion and the slaughterhouse motif, absorbed from Soutine, turn the ecclesiastical portrait into one of the most visceral images of postwar European painting. It hangs at the Art Institute of Chicago.

Exhibition Venue

Image source: Art Institute of Chicago