Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud, considered the two most famous British modern artists of their time, explains all the hullabaloo around the sale of the former’s “Three Studies of Lucian Freud”— a portrait of German-born British painter, Lucian Freud—that sold for $142 million at a Christie’s auction in NYC , surpassing the price tag for Edvard Munch’s the “Scream,” of $119 mil, making it the most expensive piece of art sold at auction. This triptych is one of 28 that Bacon painted over four decades, but because of its subject matter made it alluring to art lovers & collectors, and ultimately, the lucky buyer.
An article in the Sept-Oct 2009 issue by Cassandra Langer provides a comprehensive examination of Bacon’s background, and how his upbringing & perception of his homosexuality as a defect & perversion affected his art. And Jim Nawrocki describes Bacon’s “homosexuality, his history of intense relationships with troubled lovers, and his sadomasochistic leanings” as influencing “the menacing quality of so many of his images” in his review of Francis Bacon: Five Decades in the July-Aug issue of this year.
