Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh IV 1957

Francis Bacon made this painting, "Study for a Portrait of Van Gogh IV", as an oil on canvas. It is one of a series of paintings made in the 1950s inspired by a lost photograph of Van Gogh walking towards the viewer on a road outside Paris. The painting is full of painterly brushstrokes and dark colors that hint at the inner torment of the artist figure. Bacon was an outsider to the established art world of post-war Britain. He self-consciously adopted the persona of a tortured loner, much like the popular conception of Van Gogh. This interest in the figure of the artist coincided with post-war existentialism. Van Gogh’s life chimed with the idea of personal freedom, but at the same time of being subject to hidden and incomprehensible forces. We can learn more about the art of this time from sources like exhibition reviews and magazines, considering the role of art galleries and museums in shaping the image of the artist.