Francis Bacon and Bullfighting

Abstract

This article explains how the physical and philosophical world of the corrida might nuance our understanding of life and work of the Anglo-Irish artist Francis Bacon, and vice-versa. To this end, the analysis is split into three sections. The first offers a biographical sketch of Bacon’s interest in taurine subject-matter. This background context paves the way for an ethical and aesthetic comparison between the working practices of the painter and the matador. The third and last section interprets his final painting, Study of a Bull, as a vision of fear and pity to suggest Bacon blurred distinctions between man and beast as he neared death.