FRANCIS BACON - BOOKS AND PAINTING

Published to accompany the first Francis Bacon retrospective in Paris for twenty years, this catalogue analyses Bacon s works from 1971 onwards in light of his relationship to literature. Bacon always vigorously opposed over-analysis of his paintings, preferring to interpret them in purely illustrative or symbolic terms; he admitted, however, that literature was a powerful stimulus to his imagination. The artist was inspired by the images conjured up by certain texts: Aeschylus phrase the reek of human blood smiles out at me in particular haunted Bacon, while his 1978 work Painting refers to T. S. Eliot s seminal poem The Waste Land. The inventory of Bacon s personal library has identified more than 1,300 books, ranging from Bataille and Conrad to Nietzsche and Leiris. (...)