Francis Bacon. Five Decades

Francis Bacon: five decades is the first major exhibition of this great artist’s work to be shown in Australia and marks the 20th anniversary of Bacon’s death.

Organised by the Art Gallery of New South Wales, the exhibition presents more than 50 works by the master of post-war British art, loaned from 30 international and Australian institutions, including the Museum of Modern Art and Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Tate Britain, London; Pompidou Centre, Paris; Art Institute of Chicago; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; as well as the Francis Bacon Estate and private collectors.

The exhibition acknowledges the importance of Bacon to a number of key Australian artists. Roy de Maistre, who had moved from Sydney to London in the early 1930s, was an important mentor to the young Bacon. The older artist shared his extensive artistic knowledge and contacts with Bacon and it was de Maistre who suggested Bacon should paint (at the time Bacon was a moderately successful furniture designer). Bacon was also a formative influence on Brett Whiteley, who went on to dominate and define the Australian art scene later in the 20th century.

Francis Bacon had strong views about art and life. He was a fiercely committed atheist; he hated expressionism (meaning self-expression) in art; he wanted art to bring reality back to us as forcefully as possible; and was passionately opposed to narrative in painting which he believed should be about the experience of the image before you.

Dates: from November 17 to February 24.
Location: Art Gallery of New South Wales. Art Gallery Road, Sydney NSW 2000. Australia.
Opening hours: from Monday to Sunday form 10am to 5pm. Wednesdays from 10am to 9pm.