Francis Bacon - Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards 1984
Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards 1984
oil on canvas, in three parts each: 198x148cm
Sold for: USD 80.8 million
Auction house: Christie's, New York
Sale date: 13 May 2014
Seller: Anonymous owner
Buyer: Anonymous buyer
From Christie's:
Painted in 1984, Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards is a celebration of what was probably the most important and significant relationship of Francis Bacon's life. The subject of this painting is John Edwards, a bar manager from the East End of London, who Bacon had met a decade earlier and who went on to become one of the artist's closet and most trusted companions. Across its three panels, Bacon records with his characteristic verve and painterly flourishes the lithe figure of Edwards dressed in a simple outfit of a white shirt and grey pants. Locating his subject in an ethereal arena-like space, Bacon focuses attention on Edwards' soft features, infusing each brushstroke not with angst and fear, as he had done in his earlier portraits, but with a considered sense of warmth and serenity that was to become the hallmark of his later work.