Since his creation in the 1940s, painter Francis Bacon has been known for his phantasmagoric compositions that seemed to emerge directly from his hedonistic lifestyle. Bacon had a famously mercurial personality, although some of that reputation is likely tied to him to the “transgression” of being gay in a less tolerant age. One of Bacon’s recurring subjects was his muse and lover George Dyer, whom he painted obsessively.
Now, Bacon is bringing Dyer’s first full-scale portrait to auction at Sotheby’s, which is expected to fetch between $30 million and $50 million when the hammer falls.
“Portrait of George Dyer Crouching” was painted in 1966 and depicts the subject standing naked on the edge of a springboard-like board that fits into a circular structure that looks like a cross between a piece of mid-century living room furniture. and a well The image features three superimposed faces, one of Bacon’s signature elements, giving the effect of frantic, unearthly, animalistic frenzy. Here, however, this overlap could be interpreted as representing a deep and unbreakable bond between the artist and his lover: Many believe that the artist merged Dyer’s face with his own.
“This painting is a gut punch, a swirl of flesh and emotion that pulls you in with this almost gravitational pull,” Lucius Elliott, head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Marquee Sales in New York, said in a statement announcing the May auction.
“Dyer is both predator and prey, isolated in the picture frame staring at the viewer with a single red eye, terrifying and desperately alone,” Elliott continued. “The head alone has an intensity and presence that beggars belief: chops of pigment and muddled paint draw a face that is one of Bacon’s most compelling and compelling creations.”
The work is credible enough to have remained in the same family collection for over 50 years, after being acquired by the Malborough Gallery in 1970. Just two years ago, the work went on display at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. called Bacon exhibition The Man and the Beast.
He is offering the job without a guarantee, no doubt because the work will have a high price as a demonstration of faith. Although the pool of buyers who can afford this option is not deep, Dyer’s portraits—officially 10 of Bacon’s full-size paintings—are some of the artist’s most sought-after works. However, this journey from the museum to the auction block could be cynically interpreted as a calculated move to improve the provenance before selling the work at a higher price.
