Francis Bacon (artist)

An artist must be nourished by his passions and his despairs. These things alter an artist whether for the good or the better or the worse. It must alter him.

Francis Bacon (28 October 1909 – 28 April 1992) was an Anglo-Irish figurative painter, a collateral descendant of the Elizabethan philosopher Francis Bacon. His artwork is known for its bold, austere, and often grotesque or nightmarish imagery.

Quotes

The feelings of desperation and unhappiness are more useful to an artist than the feeling of contentment, because desperation and unhappiness stretch your whole sensibility.

• I feel ever so strongly that an artist must be nourished by his passions and his despairs. These things alter an artist whether for the good or the better or the worse. It must alter him. The feelings of desperation and unhappiness are more useful to an artist than the feeling of contentment, because desperation and unhappiness stretch your whole sensibility.
  • As quoted in The Artist Observed: 28 interviews with contemporary artists (1991) by John Gruen, p. 3

• The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.
  • Cited as a remark in The Sunday Telegraph (1964), in Wisdom for the Soul : Five Millennia of Prescriptions for Spiritual Healing (2006), edited by Larry Chang; also quoted in The Artist's Way (1992) by Julia Cameron

External links

• Francis Bacon Image Gallery
• The Francis Bacon Estate
• Tribute and links
• Francis Bacon gallery at MuseumSyndicate
• Love is the Devil: Study for a Portrait of Francis Bacon