Figure 1961

Francis Bacon, who was born in Dublin, made this painting of a figure, maybe in the mid- to late-20th century, but who knows? The grays and blacks pull the figure out of some kind of netherworld. The act of painting itself seems like it was a struggle, a kind of wrestling with the unknown. You know, I can almost feel Bacon's angst as he built up this image. The way he smears and twists the paint, it's like he's trying to capture something fleeting, something just beyond grasp. That dark line around the body, it's not just an outline, it’s an aura of uncertainty. Look at the feet. They're barely there, like the figure is fading away or perhaps about to dance away. Bacon, like many of us painters, was in dialogue with the past masters like Velasquez, but he pushed it, turning tradition into something raw and deeply personal. Painting is all about that push and pull between what we know and what we feel.