Francis bacon the artist biography

Like his paintings, Francis Bacon was a complicated and contradictory figure. He led a remarkable life that was full of highs and lows, from his difficult teenager years when he was kicked out of the family home, to his career as an acclaimed artist who put figurative painting back on the agenda.

Here, we try to unpick who Bacon was. Who he really was.

1. He started out as a furniture designer

Despite never going to art school – or finishing school for that matter – Bacon painted his first major work, Crucifixion (1933) aged just 24.

By that time though, he had already lived in Berlin and Paris, considered working as an actor, and established himself as a furniture designer in London.

To this day no one knows for sure where he learnt to make furniture (Paris, perhaps?), but he was successful enough to