Untitled (Pope) 1954

Curator: Looking at this work, it seems to almost scream from the canvas, wouldn't you say? Editor: Absolutely. It's as if the sitter is caught in a silent, yet deeply resonant, howl. A grimace. Maybe pure terror? I'm instantly captivated, almost intimidated. Curator: Well, that reaction speaks to the core of Francis Bacon's "Untitled (Pope)," created in 1954. It's an oil painting that captures the artist’s sustained engagement with the figure of Pope Pius XII, recontextualizing pre-existing imagery found within Diego Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X. Editor: Ah, Velasquez twisted inside a bad dream. That gives me a chill, realizing this echoes another work. What's with the sort of... cage structure around him? Curator: That "cage" has been interpreted in many ways: as a visual representation of power and constraint, as a framing device isolating the figure in a moment of existential anguish, or perhaps simply highlighting the pontiff’s institutional confinement. Editor: Existential anguish... yes. Bacon had such a turbulent personal life. I keep thinking of a zoo animal, powerful, yet trapped in its confines. Or maybe a soul in torment? The energy is electric. You can practically feel the scream echoing in the gallery. Curator: Consider also the social and political anxieties of the post-war period. There is the intersection of religious authority with Cold War paranoia. One may feel the crumbling facades of institutions challenged by secular thought and existential philosophies like those espoused by Sartre and de Beauvoir. The figure is quite literally deconstructed by Bacon’s technique. Editor: Exactly! The brushstrokes feel violent, fractured. Is that a handkerchief clutched in his fist, or another, symbolic disfigurement? Bacon's handling of paint here makes me think about his gambling debts and being abused as a child. Wild to make a parallel between the art and his life. Curator: I believe that is very appropriate for this particular body of work. The Pope series can be viewed through the lens of institutional critique but is grounded in a very real portrait of post-war societal and individual trauma. Editor: Thinking about it all... the history, the technique... I'm still struck most by the visceral reaction. It's a potent cocktail of unease and fascination. Thank you for walking through that with me! Curator: Indeed. It's these very complexities that secure Bacon's legacy and continually challenge us to delve deeper.