Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon was a British painter famous for raw, unsettling images of the human figure. Born in Dublin in 1909 to English parents, he was largely self-taught and came to painting after an early stint in interior design. He became known for distorted, screaming figures, isolated in bare rooms or glass boxes, that seem to twist and smear before your eyes. His work confronts pain, fear, and mortality without flinching.

He often worked in series and reworked famous images, most notably turning a serene papal portrait by Velázquez into a howling, caged figure. His chaotic London studio, crammed with photos and debris, became almost as famous as his paintings. Bacon's intense, visceral work made him one of the most important and provocative British artists of the twentieth century.