Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon

Three Studies for a Crucifixion – 2

Tonight I watched Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon. Directed by John Maybury, Love is the Devil is a stark, disturbing and emotive depiction of Bacon’s working life. The film centres on the artist’s tempestuous and tragic relationship with lover and muse George Dyer, while providing an insight into his private world and tortured, complex psyche. As a child, I was introduced to Bacon’s paintings, having found a postcard of Triptych in an old cupboard in our dining room. To this day, I still find it extremely distressing to view Bacon’s work. His studies of human figures are a terrifying portrayal of life – at once raw, passionate, violent, and filled with macabre illusions. They are hell incarnate in the human form. And perhaps it is this – their overt truth – and Bacon’s ability to capture the futility of existence – that makes them both fascinating and utterly repelling.

Here is a memorable interview with the artist, produced for the Southbank Show in 1985

http://www.ubu.com/film/bacon.html

~ by artmalikwolf on October 23, 2009.