Study of George Dyer 1971

Francis Bacon created this unflinching ‘Study of George Dyer’ using oil paint, and what a study of the human condition it is, right? The way he slaps down these fleshy tones, it’s like he's wrestling with the form, not just representing it. Look at the materiality here: the canvas seems almost stained, with layers of paint both thick and thin, creating a surface that's both raw and refined. The figure is distorted and fragmented, which only amplifies the emotional intensity, capturing a sense of internal struggle. Note the newspapers scattered beneath the chair. Those legs, the way they dissolve into the page, it's as if George Dyer is both supported and consumed by the narratives of his time. Bacon reminds me of his contemporary, Willem de Kooning, in the sense that both artists were not afraid to create something that felt unresolved, as if it was still coming into being. For Bacon, art wasn’t about answers; it was about the questions, the doubts, the messy, beautiful, and often painful process of being.