Bacon set to sizzle
Published on: 07-Jan-2008
Prices for two paintings by Irish-born artist Francis Bacon are set to sizzle.The first picture, entitled Triptych 1974-77, is expected to soar to around £25 million when it is auctioned next month at Christies.
Depicting images of figures on a beach under dark umbrellas overlooked by two menacing faces it is thought the work was painted in response to the suicide of his lover George Dyer.
The amount it is expected to fetch could surpass the present record of £26.6 million for a Bacon painting.
Pilar Ordovas, head of postwar and contemporary art at Christrie's, told the Reuters news agency: "Painted just in time for his 1974 show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York as a tribute to George Dyer, 'Triptych 1974-77' is the most important triptych by Francis Bacon to appear ever at auction."
The second Bacon work to be auctioned in February is Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror, which is expected to fetch between £18 million and £25 million when it is sold at Sotheby's.
The painter, who died in 1992, is best know for his portrayals of grotesque human forms.
