Triptych 1983, 1984

Francis Bacon is one of the most distinctive painters to emerge during the post-war period. His work, known for its emotionally charged and raw imagery, captures the dualities of life and death, beauty and ugliness, as well as notions of civilisation and barbarism. Bacon began working in triptychs in the early 1940s and continued until the mid-60s. He claimed to see images in series and the triptych provided a way for him to distil a complex story so that it could be painted and told in a bold and dynamic way.