Francis Bacon: Books and Painting

A radically new perspective on Francis Bacon’s art, analyzing the ways in which literature inspired the artist’s work.

Published to accompany a major Francis Bacon retrospective in Paris, which will travel to the Fine Arts Museum, Houston, Francis Bacon analyzes Bacon’s works from 1971 onward in light of his relationship to literature. Bacon always vigorously opposed overanalysis of his paintings, preferring to interpret them in purely illustrative or symbolic terms; he admitted, however, th...