Francis Bacon

Phaidon, the world’s premiere publisher of books on the visual arts, is moving into digital publishing with modern artist monographs from the Phaidon Focus series available exclusively on the iBooks Store.


The Phaidon Focus series offers accessible, authoritative, and thought-provoking introductions to modern masters of the art world. Cleanly presented and easy to navigate, the new Phaidon Focus multi-touch books allow readers to seamlessly move between a chronology of the artist’s career and ten essays illuminating particular works, styles, and themes. Added functionality comes in the form of image zooming, rotating galleries, and a useful interactive glossary. 


DISCOVER: A chronology introduces the artist’s work and provides context, while an interactive glossary offers additional clarity


EXPLORE: Navigate among essays for an in-depth look at themes, styles and work periods


GET UP CLOSE: Enlarge artworks and photographs for a stunning detailed view


BROWSE: View interactive image galleries


About the book:

The art of Francis Bacon (1909–1992) epitomizes the angst at the heart of the modern human condition. His dramatic images of screaming figures and distorted anatomies seem to embody the darkness and despair that humanity felt in the wake of World War II. Yet they are also painted with a richly gestural technique, alluding to such Old Masters as Titian, Velázquez and Rembrandt. Displaying repressed and raw emotion, his body of work contributes to the public perception of his personal life as a bohemian in London’s infamous Soho set, which included Lucian Freud and John Deakin, whom he often used as subjects for his paintings.