Francis Bacon

In this landmark text by one of the most influential philosophers of the twentieth century, Gilles Deleuze takes the paintings of Francis Bacon as his object of study. The book presents a deep engagement with Bacon's work and the nature of art. Deleuze analyses the distinctive innovations that came to mark Bacon's style: the isolation of the figure, the violation and deformations of the flesh, the complex use of colour, the method of chance, and the use of the triptych form.

Here Deleuze creates a number of his well-known concepts, such as the 'body without organs', and contrasts his own approach to painting with that of both the phenomenological and the art historical traditions. Deleuze links Bacon's work to Cézanne's notion of a 'logic' of sensation and, investigating this logic, explores Bacon's crucial relation to past painters such as Cézanne, Velázquez, and Soutine.

Francis Bacon by Gilles Deleuze is a profound examination of the intersection between philosophy and visual art, elucidating the intense creativity and enduring influence of Bacon's unique vision.