He DESTROYED His Million Dollar Paintings | Francis Bacon
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 ก.ค. 2024
- What do you do when you don’t want your work to be salvaged? After finding people rummaging through his trash in search of his discarded paintings, figurative artist Francis Bacon started slashing his paintings so that they may be irrecoverable. Hundreds of his paintings were found cut and destroyed. What leads an artist to use violence against his own art? How does an artist decide which painting is worthy of keeping and which is not? His 1962 painting Gorilla With Microphones was one of these paintings to be violently discarded. To continue our conversation on what art is or whether AI art is real art or not, today we explore what makes art worthy of being kept, and what type of art is to be violently cut up and thrown away.
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#art #videoessay #FrancisBacon #ScreamingPope
As someone who wrote a whole Masters thesis about Bacon and as the proud owner of around 120 books about him, I'm happy to report that your video is a gem. Not only everything is factually correct, but your analysis is also very interesting and spot on. Not to mention that the production value of your content is outstanding. Thank you for your work.
such a wonderful depth to dive into in analysis, with Bacon. Not the best painter ever, but excellent, and maybe the most interesting.
@@cjhunt9532 Yes, you absolutely have a point. Bacon was not, quite objectively, the best painter. He was never classically trained (and maybe that's why he destroyed a lot of his works as well) and his technic was often lacking. In some paintings the figure is definitely the focus and the background is often a little too flat. But then the flashes of brilliance make up for it wonderfully. And his vision of what art and painting should be and should feel....
What subject did you write your thesis about? I'm very interested in studying an art related subject, so it would be very interesting to hear about that!
@@Akira_Kotoura Hello Hannah. I wrote my thesis in 2010 at Paris La Sorbonne Nouvelle as I was technically studying English and not art (but as I was always interested in art (and Bacon) and I had a great professor, so he let me do whatever I wanted). The exact subject was: Chaos and Order in the Works of Francis Bacon. I analysed how chaos and order were extremely important for FB in his private life as well as in his art and how much it specifically mattered in the studio space. As I had been collecting books about Bacon for about 20 years at the time, this thesis was mostly a passion project.
I hope this can help.
Here is the outline if you're interested:
Title: Facing Bacon - Chaos and Order in the Works of Francis Bacon
Introduction - It will create a sensation - It will create unease
Part I - A Body of Work - Trapping Appearance in the Works of Francis Bacon
Chapter 1 - ‘What the wrestlers were thinking’: The Pool of Flesh and the Bodyscape
Chapter 2 - Crying Out Mute: Heads, Têtes-viande, Faces, and Portraits
Chapter 3 - ‘Nada… Nada’: Van Gogh, Landscapes, Popes, and other ‘disasters’
Part II - Work hard, play hard - The Studio as an Orderly and Inspirational Chaos
Chapter 1 - Chickens Scared by a Torpedo: The Studio as a Stage
Chapter 2 - Bringing Home the Bacon: The Studio as a Workplace
Part III - The Losing Game - Success and failure of Francis Bacon
Chapter 1 - Deconstructing Bacon: The Problem with Illustration
Chapter 2 - Highly controlled chaos: The Problem with Accidents
Chapter 3 - Divide and Rule: The Problem with Abstraction
Conclusion - ‘I’m profoundly optimistic about nothing!'
Here is the first paragraph of my introduction:
In mid-2000, eight years after Francis Bacon’s death, the Hugh Lane Gallery of Dublin organised an exhibition to celebrate the donation of the entire contents of the artist’s studio. Called Francis Bacon in Dublin, the exhibition was promoted in a slightly non-traditional fashion, with the top halves of some advertising posters featuring marketing tools usually associated with the movie industry: taglines. One read: ‘It will create a sensation’ and the other ‘It will create unease’. As uncanny as they were, these tag lines somehow summarized the unheimlich feelings many had already experienced in front of Bacon’s paintings.
@@jdfromparis6230 Thank you so much for your detailed answer! That sounds very interesting. I will definitely look closer into Francis Bacon's art after this.
I rewatch the documentary "A Brush with Violence" every now and then, almost once a year. I'm not a huge fan of Bacon's work nor his persona, but I have a strange fascination with him because of his (self-)destructive (work), in the sense that he's almost a deeply tragic figure, like the main characters of the ancient greek tragedies, drawing our sympathy because of the pain he went through but at the same time we're unable to sympathize because of his hybris. he was self-destructive, he destroyed his lovers; he made violent art, he made violent love and perpetuated the deep pains. And people love(d) him for it and love(d) to watch it. Its really tragic.
I’m the same, that documentary is so well done. It’s the reason I love him as an artist 😂
Love both of those
Meta moment - Not recommending one's own video, during a video about artists hating their own art
I adore your comment yet implore you to detest mine.
@@rolandmeyer3729 So many layers. I’m still not thumbs-downing your comment though. Just seems a little mean.
@@MattMurphyMusicTeacher Matt, my comment is an example of self-reference which is meta in itself. I was riffing off of you, like a jazz musician.
If a Banksy-type artist took a spray paint can and wrote "Sorry for the Graffiti" on a wall of City Hall, the village elders would be pissed, but the populace would chuckle.
Now let's go get a 🍻, amigo.
If he doesn't like his narration he should delete the video. And then delete all the videos. Yeah.
I think maybe he was seeking perfectionism, or rather what he thought it should be. Sometimes a trait for good but perhaps soul destroying in his case. Great thoughtful video as always 🎨.
Once I tore a fully completed stone by stone drawing of the front of Notre Dame de Paris to pieces after realizing it wasn't going to work out with my girlfriend at that time. I've worked weeks to get it right, only to discover I started out with the wrong dimensions half way in ink. The external frustrations of a relationship that is slowly dying, triggered me to tear it to pieces. After that I made one with the right dimensions. It was much better than the one I tore to pieces. That's the story behind my profile picture.
Been there. Done that 😂
i agree totally that both the destroyed artwork and the act of its destruction are themselves pieces of art
There is something deeply unsettling to me about people scavenging in trash for discarded work so they can sell it
Think about it it's a painting you don't link so you throw it away someone finds it sells it and now the one painting you hated has your name on it and you never get a dime for it. It's insult to injury.
Haha my neighbor did it once and I happened to actually do work for the gallery he submitted it to lol. When I saw it framed and on the wall for sale I was like “wth that’s MY PAINTING!!” 😂
I couldn’t help but laugh but I was definitely shocked lol.
@@mikekazz5353it is and it isn’t. I’ve had it happen and after the initial shock it was a compliment. He felt it was good enough to retrieve, spend money framing it, and was confident enough in its quality to submit to a very reputable gallery to sell :P
one time in community college, we had this courtyard connecting all the art studio buildings. in one there was a metal fireplace. an old lady and some colleges were burning sketches and art works in it and cooking smores. the lady told me she wanted one positive thing to come out of her otherwise wasted semester of art study, so she was burning the art as fuel to make the smores. i participated.
One of the reasons why an artist destroys his work is that he does not feel in touch with it, or has lost touch with it and cannot find it again. Sometimes, when we've gone too far in the wrong direction, it doesn't make sense to go back and fix something, but it makes sense to start all over again with another canvas. Both in life and in art.
The artist and his work of art are always in a true relationship. Destruction means the end of that relationship. Because if you continue, you will be lying in this relationship and the artist does not want to lie.
The second thing is that when repairing a work of art, the thickness of the layers is formed, which suppresses the colors, clarity, translucency, lightness. A purely technical matter.
I read David lunch’s biography and he apparently looks up to Bacon, he’s a huge inspiration on his paintings. You should totally make a video on Lynch’s paintings
As an artist I love listening to your videos when I paint! It brings such a relaxing mood that I love
I highly enjoyed the analysis. My own tendency is to overwork things, trying to make something grander than it is- I have destroyed more than one piece in a fit of pique that it turned out terribly, or gessoed it over to start anew.
My issue with Bacon in this light is that I find his extreme reaction to not be one of a tortured artist, but one of a vainglorious auteur. To me, auteur is a dirty, disgusting word. It has tricked many men into thinking that they can choose to act a fool, often in abusive ways to their loved ones. There is no mystique to being a brilliant artist wallowing in his own pain- your skill is not proportional to your suffering. You do not lose skill when you see a therapist. You don't lose edge, you find more meaning in what you put into your work, instead.
I have sympathy to the man. I can't imagine the nightmare his psyche must have been that people were literally making big bucks off of going through his scrapped work, and he couldn't see that it very literally had great worth to others. Imagine, getting that sort of over the top, insane validation, and instead of realizing "Oh, I bet I could give my discarded work to some homeless folks and save their lives" you go "NO, WHAT ABOUT MY LEGACY, NO ONE MUST SEE MY SHAME!"
That behavior is pathetic, and in a way, yes it did create a different sort of work. A monument, a warning for any sort of creative. You can be a brilliant creator with every success, but if you cannot validate yourself internally, you'll never find satisfaction in a single thing you do. And that is what makes worthless art, not overworking the canvas.
I don´t always destroy my art. Instead, I carefully preserve it. There have been times when such artworks have been destroyed but they had to be destroyed out of a necessity. Thanks for your video, Friend! Kind regards from Ásgeir in Iceland.
I often destroy failed pieces (slashing)... usually after a failed overworking. It's hard to stop working when you see in your head where it should go, and easy to push it over the edge.
Its is also incredibly difficult to go back into an older piece and rework it- especially if the work is as kinetic as Bacon's. The additions often don't relate, and although parts may be better, it loses cohesiveness. I completely understand his statement. No matter WHAT a viewer may see in a piece, if the painter sees where it SHOULD or could have gone, it can be seen as unsuccessful. It's no surprise he didn't want failed pieces around. I wouldn't either.
Also. I think when he says he destroys the "better" pieces, he is referring to their past state or potential- NOT his opinion of them in the current state when he destroyed them.
Especially for me with watercolors :)
Educating, enlightening, relaxing. These videos are so good.
Besides the great content, I really like the mood of your videos.. the music, your narration.. it's relaxing, almost hypnotic
One finished painting that is pushed to the point of no return can teach the artist more about technique than anything else ..and often leads to their "hallmark visual language"
Thanks Canvas Man, this is a fine continuation of your Bacon video. All of your conspectuses have been world-class, as well as being based AF.
The repetition of abhorrent violence for commodification would be the last thing Bacon would ever do. Maybe that's obvious, but it needs to be said.
The insight of this video essay incites me to apply its wisdom to all artists who intentionally destroy their creation(s).
I will give three examples from the realm of the "concert hall," i.e. serious "art music" which the unbaptized masses would call "classical music":
1. Paul Dukas. Best known for "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". Destroyed many (but not all) of his works.
2. Samuel Barber. His Symphony No. 2 was withdrawn. He demanded that his publisher destroy his original manuscript, including the sheet music for all orchestral parts. It has been recovered, a long story. Yet a question remains: Is it ethical to listen to it?
3. Jean Sibelius. His Symphony No. 8 was probably created at least twice, possibly thrice. It is presumably destroyed.
All three of these men were hyper-self-critical, a trait they held in common with Mr. Bacon.
Brilliant! Likely sirBacon reached the point in his art when his own creations were driving him to take actions which were imprinted in his paintings. I know one man, he destroyed some of his paintings because of the way they affected him. He didn't want to take responsibility. Art is art even if it’s not affecting you that instantaneously, it’s water that sharpens the stone.
A great video, as always!
I love how you analyze the work of artists whose art is on the "dark" and "disturbing" side of the spectrum. Bacons style really resembles the art of Zdzislaw Beksinski - and i would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on him!
Your Bacon video was the first one I watched, and I liked it enough to sub, so Id say it was good.
Your videos are so relaxing
I do the same thing. When I hate something I paint or something that does not look "perfect" I tear it up or throw it away. I have kind of gotten better at this but I have so much unfinished stuff I hate that has been now shoved into a cabinet.
I believe Joan Miró did something similar - he burned a canvas, but then he claimed it as the finished work of art, not destroyed. So it probably wasn't an expression of suffering, like in Bacon's slashed canvases.
Matisse overworked a canvas so many times it was an entirely different painting everyday. i remember a story about a woman, i think, that took some photos of the canvas a few times as it was reworked. he finally settled on a version.
i reckon those guys went through lean times and were loath to waste a good stretched linen. Bacon was flush in the age of waste.
@@stephenmorton8017 Pernmanently overworking may be a sign of severe uncertainty !
I've destroyed almost every piece I've ever done. Life is transitory, so it art.
Work like Bacon's is like conducting a train wanting to go faster and faster until it teeters off the rails just a little and then you stop it's just that it often goes off the rails completely or doesn't even leave the station
Very clever how, in saying you can’t stand the narration in the screaming pope video, you inevitably draw us to it in a bit of reverse psychology. Bravo. 👏🏾
Every artist destroys their work for the exact reasons stated, whats the big deal, editing works depending on expectations and levels of success. Just because the works vould be sold for large sums doesn't matter to the artist because if it did they would be sellingvout. That's all your really marvelling at.
3:50 don't know why, but I imagined bacon art, not Bacon art, and that made me hungry for an art movement solely focused on bacon.
All puns intended.
The difficult case of the artist: feeling the need for new breakthroughs but being incapable of letting go of preconceptions to actualize it.
Perhaps Bacon was confused where his work was headed. He was a good painter and I admire him, but IMO he didn't go far enough.
@dianzonjairus2141: I would argue the opposite. I don’t think it’s possible-particularly with regard to portraiture-to take painting to a more extreme point than FB did with his work without it breaking down into absurdity. Of course, he was trying to do something very particular that differs from classical realism; using distortion and chance to create an image that is very artificial or non-literal yet still possesses the appearance of the person being depicted. With this in mind, I would be interested to know what more you think he could have done?
I’ve destroyed most of my art, but it’s because I would make paintings that are not nice, evil, and it would make me feel bad afterwards, so I rip up because of embarrassment. So no one else would see them. But I took pictures of them before I ripped up.
Guy was an absolute genius and his brush work was amazing
Hail to wunderbar Francis Bacon ! Hope he will be resurrected soon. Ever since been a GREAT fan of him !!!
Lot’s of artists destroy work. Even Monet was known to destroy work he couldn’t resolve. Not everything an artist does will be acceptable to the artist.
Shows how little you know. This was during his Lucio Fontana phase. These are masterpieces !! 😂 :P
Where did you get from such detailed pictures of Bacons work? ^^
He knew himself and his Artistic Qualities.
I have heard. although I can't find the reference, that Ansel Adams destroy some of his negatives that he felt were lacking so that people could come in after him and make substandard prints.
I can on an emotional level fully understand the urge of destroying your art when it does not (anymore) fit your self-imposed standarts.
Nevertheless I never erased any of my poems and here's the reason:
As soon as I'm finished with writing, I feel my poem gained a life on it's own and does not belong to me anymore. It's become an entity that's living in this world now and even though I'm the origin, it would be wrong to "kill" it. It's an expression of some parts of my deepest inner self and has therefore an underlying existential truth in its structure. And this truth, this very real reality that condensed into this poem at this specific point in time at the same time connects it to me but also disconnects it from me and my ego. So even though I may not like it (anymore) and might find it unworthy even, I have no right to mess with it. This goes even so far, that I don't ever alter or correct it ever again.
This might sound crazy to some but I wanted to share it with you, since it somewhat serves as a contrasting approach to Francis Bacon's. And by that could maybe widen the perspective of some viewers. Which is never a bad thing ;)
Excellent notions.
thank you sir
the empty space created by the destruction is indeed very engaging.
would it be if it was any other person but Bacon who did the slashing?
Great video! Question, the fact that you don't recommend your video from 3 years ago because of the quality of the narration, on another video about how Bacon trashed his own work because of his high expectations... is it deliberato or just a conincidence? ;)
Went to art school with a kid from the south who was obsessed with Bacon. He was addicted to cough syrup. Killed himself.
Great video.
VERY INTERESTING video!
Hail to wunderbar Francis Bacon ! Hope he will be resurrected soon. Ever since been a GREAT fan of him !!!
Is a pity but true friends are rare!!!
I disagree with something you say mate. You said , " if he didn't feel passionate about his art he would have given it away or sold it for less ". Not a direct quote but that's pretty much the point. Many artist including myself would rather give pieces to friends , or sell them for less , than destroy them. I think in Bacons case it's a matter of vanity and pride being the reason he did it. He didn't want anyone to see his mistake or what he considered would be judged as short comings. It doesn't mean he was more passionate about his art than other artists, at least to me it doesn't.
oh how i love your channel
5:26- makes me wonder about the well-being of this narrator's family
We should consider him as an honest man then...
When i first red the title i thought this was gonna be about banksy!!
Nice, quick vid
Can you do one on renzo vespigniani?
He was exerting ultimate control over his work.
Price and expression sure he was Freddy fan 😂
Been to Francis bacons art gallery in Dublin about 20 times. At first i felt his art was very “edgy” I didn’t get it. But the older I got the more I wanted to keep going back. To me I find the brutality is his art beautiful. I’ve seen the screaming pope up close in person and my god it entraps you.
Well, I may not care for the art myself but if the surviving pieces are what lived up to his standards, then it seems he had a true vision of what the art should be and not just whatever got him a pile of cash. Can’t say I’m that devoted to perfection. I’ll sell inferior work with a disclaimer but if it makes someone else happy, they’re welcome to get it out of my sight. I’ll never be famous so no harm no foul.
This is funny since I threw out like 8 paintings yesterday
Bacon was also a masochist who liked rough sex. I think there's an anecdote about someone coming to interview him about his art, only to be interrupted by a shirtless young man walking into the room and saying, in a working class London accent, 'So, Francis, are ya ready for yer thrashin'?'
Your interpretation is interesting at least, you should write about it. Might be a book in it. I'd read it.
i bet it would be fun to find some bacon bits
*How’s the artists residency been?* 🖼 🎨 🧑🏻🎨
Trying to make a piece of art better and in the end destroying it reminds me of George Lucas and what he did to original Star Wars movies. It is almost impossible to find what audiences saw in 70's because Lucas added a lot of animation into those movies.
Charles’ art!!
blue period brought me here 💙
He was not alone to destroye his work,Mondrian, Monet,modigliani too...
it is you versus the paintings (screen time ) i chose paintings and the whole vid shrank down to 20 secs.
The slashed paintings aren't art as that artist himself is doing it specifically to say 'this is no longer art'. As opposed to Banksy's 'destroying art'... but with more of a vague purpose.
to understand Francis Bacon we need to read the wisdom of other Francis Bacon, the wise one.
Türkçe altyazı lütfen 😊
Once my girlfriend tore a selection of her photographs off the wall. I was rather mean to her about them. It was wrong and I’m sorry
hardly surprising for Bacon, who's work is suffused with postwar violence for the subject.
he could have recovered the canvases, that was a waste. Gorky did the same thing.
Picasso painted them over. the artist is the arbiter and can do what they want.
alcohol likely had a lot to do with it.
Against Artists etc were all times ofganised crime, put them in exil etc. , WHY? WHO? THAT ARE WUESTIONS WHICH SHOULD BE ANSWERED. ARTIST LIVED OFTEN WITH SO A SMALL BUDGET AND AFTER THEY MAKE MILLION WITH THEIR WORK. THAT IS NOT RIGHT!!! IS CRIMINAL. SO PLEASE HELP ARTISTS TRUE DURING THEIR LIFE'S. I PUT AN IDEE IN THE COMMENTS BY SOTHEBY'S, GROUNDED A GROUP WHO SELLS TRUE LIVING ARTISTS WORK, HELP THEM, TO HAVE A GOOD LIFE.
bacon is the goat
This is a bad analysis. I am an artist and when I destroy a work because it makes me unhappy and have stress if anyone were to see it -I actually destroy it. No one will find a hint of its existence. What Bacon did was a little tantrum leaving his evidence trail for people to find and yes it is a “new” performance piece.
👀you've just got issues
I like Bacon, eggs too...
Ironic you don't recommend your previous Bacon video because your narration doesn't meet your current expectation ... lol
Ok
The man who was sexually attracted to his own father.
?? He wasn't sexually attracted to his own dad, he had sexual trauma due to his dad, big difference. That's like saying someone who was assaulted by their parent was attracted to their parent
Bacon was a different kind of artist.. his neighbor should've lied to him.. he did what Francis asked him to do, he shoulda kept the paintings for our sake 😩 lol
I adore Francis, my fave piece being Two Figures. I think he paints queer toxic masculinity beautifully!
Can you record your voice a little less like ASMR?
disagree
He is a perfect narrator and its very good as it is.
@@Yatukih_001 It's good but my preference is when audio is filmed a little further away. I don't like listening to the inside of someones mouth.
@@hubudubebububububeubub I also hate this dudes recording style.
I really don't find anything appealing or great about Bacon's work. I kinda wish he would've destroyed all of them. Is that too mean?
All good artist scrape off a picture that isn't working. It's nothing extraordinary! You will find my rubbish bin full of master pieces. More waffle.
maybe he saw his garbage was labled as worth millions when it looked as bad as he did so he destoryed it