Inside 'Francis Bacon: Man and Beast' with curator, Michael Peppiatt
Published on 2 March 2022
We spoke to Francis Bacon's friend, Michael Peppiatt, about the exhibition 'Man and Beast' and how Bacon's vision of humanity was shaped by his interest in animals.
Many of us know Bacon for his portraits of friends and lovers, but he was also mesmerised by animals and painted them throughout his life.
As a child, he grew up surrounded by horses and dogs, and as an adult he observed animals in the wild during trips to South Africa.
Writer Michael Peppiatt – a friend of Bacon and co-curator of Man and Beast – discusses the ideas at play in the exhibition.
Visit our five-star exhibition: 'Francis Bacon: Man and Beast'
Man and Beast explores how Bacon was mesmerised by animal movement, observing animals in the wild during trips to southern Africa; filling his studio with wildlife books, and constantly referring to Eadweard Muybridge’s 19th-century photographs of humans and animals in motion.
Spanning Bacon’s 50-year career, highlights include some of Bacon’s earliest works and his last-ever painting, alongside a trio of bullfight paintings which are being exhibited together for the first time.
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