Painting (1946)
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''Painting 1946'', also known as ''Painting'' or ''Painting (1946)'', is an oil-on-linen painting by the Irish-born artist
Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626) was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England under King James I. Bacon argued for the importance of nat ...
. It was originally intended to depict a chimpanzee in long grass (parts of which may be still visible); Bacon then attempted to paint a bird of prey landing in a field. Bacon described the work as his most unconscious, the figurations forming without his intention. The previous year Poussin's '' The Adoration of the Golden Calf'' had been taken into the National Gallery collection and Bacon almost certainly had this painting in the back of his mind in respect of the garlands, the calf (now slaughtered) and the tented Israelite encampment, now transmuted into an umbrella.
Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmakin ...
saw ''Painting 1946'' in the Cromwell Place studio, and urged his dealer,
Erica Brausen Erica Brausen (31 January 1908 – 16 December 1992), was an art dealer and gallerist who established the Hanover Gallery in London in 1948. She was an early champion of several influential contemporary artists, most notably Francis Bacon (artist ...
, then of the Redfern Gallery, to go to see the painting and to buy it. Brausen wrote to Bacon several times and visited his studio in the early Autumn of 1946, promptly buying the work for £200. It was shown in several group showings, including the British section of ''Exposition internationale d'arte moderne'' (18 November – 28 December 1946) at the
Musée National d'Art Moderne The Musée National d'Art Moderne (; "National Museum of Modern Art") is the national museum for modern art of France. It is located in the 4th arrondissement of Paris and is housed in the Centre Pompidou. In 2021 it ranked 10th in the list of ...
, for which Bacon travelled to Paris. Within a fortnight of the sale of ''Painting 1946'' to the Hanover gallery, Bacon had used the proceeds to decamp from
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
to
Monte Carlo Monte Carlo ( ; ; or colloquially ; , ; ) is an official administrative area of Monaco, specifically the Ward (country subdivision), ward of Monte Carlo/Spélugues, where the Monte Carlo Casino is located. Informally, the name also refers to ...
. After staying at a succession of hotels and flats, including the Hôtel de Ré, Bacon settled in a large villa, La Frontalière, in the hills above the town. Eric Hall and Nanny Lightfoot would come to stay. Bacon spent much of the next few years in Monte Carlo, apart from short visits to London. From Monte Carlo, Bacon wrote to Graham Sutherland and Erica Brausen. His letters to Erica Brausen show that he did paint there, but no paintings are known to survive. In 1948, ''Painting 1946'' sold to Alfred Barr for the
Museum of Modern Art The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is an art museum located in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, on 53rd Street (Manhattan), 53rd Street between Fifth Avenue, Fifth and Sixth Avenues. MoMA's collection spans the late 19th century to the present, a ...
in New York.Peppiatt, Michael. "Francis Bacon in the 1950s". Yale University Press, 2006. 143. Bacon wrote to Sutherland asking that he apply fixative to the patches of
pastel A pastel () is an art medium that consists of powdered pigment and a binder (material), binder. It can exist in a variety of forms, including a stick, a square, a pebble, and a pan of color, among other forms. The pigments used in pastels are ...
on ''Painting 1946'' before it was shipped to New York. ''Painting 1946'' is now too fragile to be moved from the museum for exhibition elsewhere.


Inspiration

In 2007 Artist
Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...
, a large fan of Bacon's, modeled his vitrine installation ''School: The Archaeology of Lost Desires, Comprehending Infinity and the Search for Knowledge'' after ''Painting 1946'', featuring sides of beef, birds, a chair and an umbrella all within the vitrine.


See also

* List of paintings by Francis Bacon


Notes and citations

{{DEFAULTSORT:Painting 1946 1946 paintings Paintings in the Museum of Modern Art (New York City) Paintings by Francis Bacon Cattle in art