Event Details

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast

Francis Bacon: Man and Beast

30 January — 18 April 2021

Explore Francis Bacon’s visceral paintings, where the line between human and animal is constantly blurred, reminding us that our primal instincts lie just below the surface.

★ Everyone (including Friends) must book tickets for a timed slot online or by phone.

Irish-born artist Francis Bacon was the horse-breeder’s son who became one of the most important painters of the 20th century.

An openly gay man at a time when homosexuality was illegal, he was banished from his conservative family home by his father at 16. After that, he drifted through Berlin and Paris before establishing himself in London, with his formative years running parallel with some of the 20th century’s most profoundly disturbing events.

This powerful exhibition will focus on Bacon’s unerring fascination with animals: how it both shaped his approach to the human body and distorted it; how, caught at the most extreme moments of existence, his figures are barely recognisable as either human or beast.



  • Address
    Royal Academy of Art Burlington House,
    Piccadilly,
    London,
    W1J 0BD
  • Telephone
    020 7287 0752
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