This artwork is protected by copyright. We cannot display images of works by artists who passed away after 1954.
See the original at Private Collection in Unknown
by Francis Bacon, 1969
Christie's / New York
November 12, 2013
Private Collection
Elaine Wynn (reported)
Francis Bacon created this monumental triptych in 1969, capturing his close friend and artistic rival Lucian Freud across three nearly six-foot panels. Working from photographs by John Deakin, Bacon rendered Freud seated on a wooden chair, his form distorted and fragmented against ochre backgrounds. Rather than literal likeness, each study captures psychological essence.
Bacon and Freud met in 1944 and became inseparable during the 1950s and 60s, spending most evenings together at Soho drinking establishments like the Colony Room. They painted each other repeatedly, their relationship described as equal parts admiration and unrelenting criticism. The friendship ended bitterly in the mid-1980s when they fell out over personal differences.
The triptych format was central to Bacon's practice. He believed multiple panels prevented what he called forced narrative interpretation, allowing images to exist in sequence without storytelling. In November 2013, the work sold at Christie's New York for $142.4 million, setting the auction record at that time. Collector Elaine Wynn later bequeathed it to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
1909–1992
British-Irish
Unknown, Unknown
Permanently housed
Other masterpieces from the Expressionism movement

Edvard Munch, 1886
National Gallery of Norway, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1894
Munch Museum, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1893
National Gallery of Norway, Oslo

Edvard Munch, 1894
Munch Museum, Oslo

Pablo Picasso, 1937
Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid

Franz Marc, 1911
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis

Franz Marc, 1913
Alte Pinakothek, Munich

Amedeo Modigliani, 1917
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Luxury wall art with the same mood and energy. Gallery-quality canvas, no museum crowds.
Browse Collection