Francis Bacon's "Pope Innocent X": A Study After Velzquez

Does a painting, born from the echoes of another, possess the power to shatter perception and redefine a timeless image? Francis Bacon's "Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" does precisely that, offering a visceral, unsettling dialogue with the past and a disturbing vision of the present.

The year was 1953. In a world still reeling from the shadows of war and grappling with the anxieties of the atomic age, the British artist Francis Bacon unleashed a visual torrent upon the art world. His subject? A reimagining, a distortion, a visceral deconstruction of Diego Velzquez's iconic portrait of Pope Innocent X, painted over three centuries prior, in 1650. Using oil on canvas, Bacon didn't simply copy; he interrogated, he challenged, he screamed through his brushstrokes.

Bacon, a staunch atheist, was not interested in mere replication. He took the starting point of Velzquez's masterful work, and twisted it, warped it, and contorted it into something entirely new and deeply disturbing. The resulting image of a screaming, anguished figure, trapped within a claustrophobic space, became one of the most recognizable and discussed images in 20th-century art. This was no accident. Bacon spent decades immersing himself in Velzquez's original portrait, studying reproductions, and allowing the image to ferment in his consciousness.

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The archetype bacon appropriated as a starting point for his pope series was diego velzquezs extraordinary portrait of pope innocent x from 1650, held in the galleria doria pamphilj, rome, a painting about which bacon felt.

Attribute	Details
Full Name	Francis Bacon
Born	October 28, 1909, Dublin, Ireland
Died	April 28, 1992, Madrid, Spain
Nationality	British (born in Ireland)
Education	Self-taught
Known For	Expressionistic and often disturbing portraits, especially his "Screaming Popes" series.
Artistic Movement	Figurative Expressionism
Influences	Diego Velzquez, Pablo Picasso, Sergei Eisenstein, Vincent van Gogh, Eadweard Muybridge
Major Works	"Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion" (1944), "Head VI" (1949), "Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" (1953), "Three Studies for a Portrait of George Dyer" (1963), "Triptych" (1970)
Notable Characteristics	Use of violent brushstrokes, distortion of the human form, enclosed spaces, themes of isolation, suffering, and the human condition.
Career Highlights	Exhibitions at the Tate Gallery, the Venice Biennale, and the Centre Pompidou, among others. Acclaimed and controversial throughout his career.
Quote	"I've always been very moved by the way things look... I mean, the way things look to me."
Reference	Tate - Francis Bacon

The genesis of Bacon's "Pope" series, of which "Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" is the most famous manifestation, can be traced back to the late 1940s. It wasn't an overnight decision, as he himself confessed that his art often evolved in unexpected ways, not always aligning with his initial vision. The "Head VI" painting from 1949 is seen as a precursor to the Pope series. It was the first time Bacon referenced Velazquezs Pope Innocent X.

Bacon, a painter who often embraced accident and chance, allowed his art to evolve organically. He worked on his pope paintings, variations on velzquezs magnificent portrait of pope innocent x, for over twenty years. He was already exploring the idea while in the south of france in late 1946. He studied the work with meticulous detail, poring over black and white reproductions in textbooks for two decades. He highly respected the spanish master and thought his painting miraculous but never bothered to see this painting in the flesh at the doria pamphilj gallery.The famous David Sylvester interview with Bacon in which he says that most of his art was accidental.

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The 1950s were a period of intense creativity for Bacon. He was not afraid to experiment with new subjects and styles. The artist's repeated engagement with the subject matter demonstrates its profound impact on him, and further emphasizes the painting's significance. In the Des Moines Art Center painting, Bacon transforms the confident client and relaxed leader of Velzquez's portrait into a screaming victim. This is a painting by the british artist, painter francis bacon.

The use of "kinetic flickering," a phrase that Harrison employs to describe the effects of the striations, extends to this piece. The "Study after Velzquez's Portrait of Pope Innocent X" became an emblem of this approach. The painting itself, born of photographic references, film stills, and Bacon's own artistic practice, embodies a raw, almost violent energy.

Bacon's artistic vision was also fueled by film and photography, which influenced his style, which is evident in the way he uses strong brushstrokes and bold colors. Bacon had first seen the movie in 1935 and viewed it frequently thereafter.

The original portrait by Velzquez, created in 1650, portrays Pope Innocent X, a figure of immense power and authority. Bacon, however, saw beyond the surface. He saw the potential for a different kind of truth, a raw exploration of the human condition beneath the veneer of power and control. This system of oppression is the source of violence bacon portrays in study after velazquezs portrait of innocent x.

The work is a derived from the portrait of Innocent X by Diego Velzquez. It is part of a series of 45 variations on Diego Velzquez's painting that Francis Bacon executed throughout the 1950s and early 1960s. Bacon wasn't just interested in the sitter, he was interested in the psychological state of the sitter. Bacon spent 20 years studying velazquezs pope innocent x, poring over black and white reproductions in textbooks.

The disintegration of the figure, the distorted features, the claustrophobic space all served to strip away the external trappings of power and expose the vulnerability, the fear, the raw humanity that lay beneath. The screaming pope became an enduring symbol of the anxieties of the age, a reflection of the human struggle against oppression, fear, and the inevitable encroachment of mortality. This is a bold reinterpretation of diego velzquezs 1650 portrait, offering a raw exploration of the.

Why did Bacon choose this particular image? The answer is complex and multi-layered. The picture was inspired by diego velzquezs extraordinarily lifelike portrait of a powerful and unscrupulous pope who duplicitously took the name innocent. He likely admired Velzquez's skill, respecting the Spanish master, but also saw an opportunity to subvert the established order, to challenge the viewer to confront uncomfortable truths. The archetype bacon appropriated as a starting point for his pope series was diego velzquezs extraordinary portrait of pope innocent x from 1650, held in the galleria doria pamphilj, rome, a painting about which bacon felt: The picture is called study after velzquez's portrait of pope innocent x.

The painting is a bold reinterpretation of Diego Velzquez's 1650 portrait, offering a raw exploration of the human condition. It's a dialogue between the artists personal demons and the broader societal anxieties. Bacons most recognizable image, and hence most famous painting, is the screaming pope of study after velzquezs portrait of pope innocent x, 1953. Scholars have pored over the paintings and the possible inspirations behind them ever since bacon painted them in the 1950s. It's a work that demands to be seen, and demands that we confront the darkness within ourselves and the world around us.

In the famous david sylvester interview with bacon the artist confessed that most of his art was accidental, that what he initially visualised would rarely become the finished work. kinetic flickering is the phrase that Harrison uses to refer to the effects of the striations of study after velzquez (1950) but i feel that it has a wider application which extends to study after velzquezs portrait of pope innocent x. In this article i want to compare velzquez's painting of pope innocent x (1650) and bacon's study after velzquez's portrait of innocent x (1953) in order to assess the reasons that explain. Study after velzquez (1950) by francis bacon.

The artwork plunges the viewer into a maelstrom of emotional intensity and psychological depth. Pope i (study after pope innocent x by velazquez) is a bleak and darkly powerful example of the painter's several variations on this theme. The painting shows a distorted version of the portrait of innocent x painted by spanish artist diego velzquez in 1650. This was the first time bacon referenced velazquezs pope innocent x.

The painting, created with oil on canvas, shows a distorted version of portrait of pope innocent x by spanish artist diego velzquez, created around 1650. The disintegrated figure in study after velazquezs portrait of innocent x is traced to bacons earlier painting head vi (1949). Bacon, a staunch atheist, exposes the pope as an empty symbol by visually deconstructing the powerful figure portrayed by velazquez. This system of oppression is the source of violence bacon portrays in study after velazquezs portrait of innocent x. His study after velzquezs pope innocent x is a bold reinterpretation of diego velzquezs 1650 portrait, offering a raw exploration of the