Francis Bacon: Human Presence

'This whirligig of horrors is the best Bacon show I've ever seen' - Jonathan Jones, The Guardian

Featuring works from the 1950s onwards, this book explores Francis Bacon's deep connection to portraiture and how he challenged traditional definitions of the genre.

From his responses to portraiture by earlier artists to large-scale paintings memorialising lost lovers, works from private and public collections will showcase Bacon's life story. As well as the artist's self-portraits, sitters include Lucian Freud, Isabel Rawsthorne, and lovers Peter Lacy and George Dyer.

The first publication in over 20 years dedicated to the portraits of Francis Bacon, Francis Bacon: Human Presence accompanies the exhibition of the same name opening at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in October 2024. From his renowned triptychs and paintings of ghostly figures to tender and psychologically revealing individual portraits, the figurative works displayed in this publication chart the development of a groundbreaking artist, highlighting the influence of his peers and other artists.

Edited and with introductory texts by National Portrait Gallery curator, Rosie Broadley, Francis Bacon: Human Presence also features biographies and photographs of Bacon and his circle, bringing lesser-told stories to the fore. A series of short essays from a range of contemporary thinkers and experts on Bacon explore the individuality of the artist through different lenses, providing fresh perspectives on the artist, his portraits, and his world.