The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

Head

1951

Francis Bacon

(British, 1909–1992)

England, 20th century

Oil on canvas

Framed: 86 x 77 x 6 cm (33 7/8 x 30 5/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 62.9 x 53.3 cm (24 3/4 x 21 in.)

Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1982.56

© Estate of Francis Bacon / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / DACS, London

Location

not on view

Description

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Bacon developed his signature motif of screaming heads trapped in glass or metal cages while working in London in the late 1940s and early ‘50s. The exploration of extreme states of emotion in these inwardly tortured figures reflects the influence of Surrealism. Bacon certainly knew Salvador Dalí‘s The Dream, a featured painting in the London International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936, and now displayed in this gallery. Bacon‘s isolated heads have strong affinities with the caged figures in the paintings and sculptures of his close friend, Alberto Giacometti.

Provenance
Lucien Freud, London; Mrs. Brenda Bomford, Aldbourne, England
Citations
Henning, Edward B. "A Painting by Francis Bacon." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 9 (November 1983): 354-359. Reproduced: P. 354; Mentioned: P. 354-359 www.jstor.org
Cleveland Museum of Art. Images of the Mind. Cleveland, Ohio: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 29
Sylvester, David. Looking Back at Francis Bacon. London: Thames & Hudson, 2000. Reproduced: P. 36
Exhibition history

The Year in Review for 1982. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 5-February 6, 1983).

Images of the Mind. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 7-August 30, 1987).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.56