Francis Bacon

Francis Bacon (1909-1992) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century. His paintings of the 1940s bore witness to the shattered psychology of the time and shot him to a prominence that hardly diminished over nearly fifty years. This exhibition will bring together the most important paintings from each period of his life. As the first major retrospective in London since 1985, it will also afford a re-assessment of his work in the light of the new research that has emerged since his death. The exhibition will be a major celebration heralding Bacon's centenary in 2009, and will tour to the Prado in Madrid and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.