Francis Bacon analysis
The piece that I will be analysing is called ‘Portrait of Pope Innocent X’ by the 30’s artist, Francis Bacon. The painting originates from the Spanish artist Diego Velázquez, who painted the original version of the Pope in 1650. It is not of any culture, but Bacon said he wanted an excuse to use those colours. It belongs to no tradition, but in my own opinion, Bacon adopted his own tradition by making all his paintings gruesome and violent.
The painting looks like acrylic paint on a canvas, and it’s a painting of Pope Innocent X. It’s really abstract, as if the artist was lashing at the canvas with his paintbrushes. The painting just looks really violent. There is the figure of the Pope sitting tightly upright with his face screaming in horror. The supports of the chair he’s sitting on have been extended to the sides of the painting. The Popes top rob is violet, and the rest of his gown is white. This gives the painting a ghostly feeling to it. The painting shows that the Pope is screaming, yet it seems that his voice is drowned out by the dark drapes of colours that have covered the painting; this also lends a nightmarish and grotesque tone to it. The Pope also looks as if he is in pain, though nothing is touching or harming him.