Study for a Pope III 1961

Francis Bacon made this painting, Study for a Pope III, with oil on canvas. I love how the dark background sucks you into this swirling vortex of fleshy pinks and reds. It’s like the canvas is exhaling, and this tortured figure is what comes out. Look at the brushwork around the mouth and face. It’s so loose, so gestural, almost violent. Bacon really went at it, didn't he? The paint is thick in some spots, thin in others, creating this unsettling push and pull. The way he smears and distorts the features, it’s like he's trying to capture a scream, a moment of pure, raw emotion. I wonder if he was thinking about Velazquez's portrait of Pope Innocent X when he made this. Bacon often returned to this subject matter and you can see how the ideas evolved over time through a real process of material and conceptual investigation. Ultimately, like all the best art, it raises more questions than it answers.