Francis Bacon’s “Triptych”, showing a headless corpse eaten by birds, stares down from the wall in the big retrospective that opens this week at Tate Britain.
The ominous work made Bacon (1909-1992) the world’s most expensive postwar artist. The centenary exhibition also shows why he is one of the greatest painters of the 20th century.
The show, which opens on Sept. 11, is a serious and thorough survey containing most - if not quite all - of the painter’s major works. Deservedly, this will be popular, offering another generation an opportunity to look at Bacon’s output.
“Triptych” (1976) was purchased at auction in May at Sotheby’s in New York for $86.3 million. At that rate, the 71 paintings in the exhibition are worth - wait while I get my pocket calculator out - somewhere more than $6 billion. (Bloomberg)