National Portrait Gallery to display rarely-seen Francis Bacon portraits

Francis Bacon: Human Presence will bring together works from private collections around the world that have rarely been seen before. It will run until 19th January 2025 and groups of ten or more will receive a discount on tickets booked over the phone. 

Charting the artist’s career through more than 50 of his paintings, the display will explore Bacon’s engagement with portraiture from the late 1940s, with a focus on self-portraits and images of key sitters made from the early 1950s onwards including lovers Peter Lacy, George Dyer and John Edwards; and friends Isabel Rawsthorne, Henrietta Moraes, Lucian Freud and Muriel Belcher.

Bringing Bacon and his sitters to life in an unparalleled way, paintings will be displayed alongside photographs and portraits of Bacon from the Gallery’s Collection – captured by leading 20th century photographers including Cecil Beaton, Arnold Newman and Bill Brandt.

Rosie Broadley, joint-head of curatorial and senior curator of 20th century collections at the National Portrait Gallery said: “Francis Bacon was deeply engaged with portraiture, challenging long-established expectations of what a portrait should entail. 

“As one of the greatest British painters of the last century, I’m delighted to be bringing so many of Bacon’s works to the National Portrait Gallery for the first time, as we stage London’s first ever exhibition dedicated to his many portraits, fusing image and paint in a truly unique way.”

More about Francis Bacon and the exhibition

He has long been considered one of the most outstanding painters of the 20th century. Best-known as a figurative artist, his work transforms the appearance of his subjects through an extraordinary use of paint. 

Bacon’s early works feature disconcerting figures, screaming or pained, as the artist explored how to depict humanity in a post-war world. The exhibition will begin by introducing viewers to a selection of these early paintings, including Head VI (1949) and Study of the Human Head (1953), works that depict anonymous male subjects. Both bear all of the visual conventions of formal portraiture. 

By the mid 1950s, Bacon had moved away from painting screaming figures, but continued to paint ambiguous and unsettling images. Choosing – for the first time – to paint from life, he made portraits of his patrons, Robert and Lisa Sainsbury, and his friend and fellow artist, Lucian Freud, displayed in a section of the exhibition called Beyond Appearance.

Like Rembrandt, Bacon returned to self-portraiture throughout his career, painting himself over 50 times during the decades of his life, from small single heads to full-lengths and large triptychs. Other artists were also drawn to depict Bacon, particularly photographers, for whom he sat throughout his career.