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Three Studies for Self-Portrait

Francis Bacon British, born Ireland
1979
On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 601
As Bacon remarked to British art critic David Sylvester in 1975, "I loathe my own face . . . I’ve done a lot of self-portraits, really because people have been dying around me like flies and I’ve nobody else left to paint but myself." This striking triptych, featuring a head emerging from a deep abyss of black paint, provides no sense of the space inhabited by the sitter. The tightly constricted view allows only for ruminations on the face itself—its ravages, its psychological depths—and the sense of the head turning around slowly, going from one frame to the next, as if in an unhurried panning shot.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Three Studies for Self-Portrait
  • Artist: Francis Bacon (British (born Ireland), Dublin 1909–1992 Madrid)
  • Date: 1979
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Each: 14 3/4 × 12 1/2 in. (37.5 × 31.8 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Jacques and Natasha Gelman Collection, 1998
  • Object Number: 1999.363.1a-c
  • Rights and Reproduction: © 2025 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
  • Curatorial Department: Modern and Contemporary Art

More Artwork

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Head I, Francis Bacon British, born Ireland, Oil and tempera on board
Head I
Francis Bacon
1947–48
Portrait, Francis Bacon British, born Ireland, Pastel with graphite on paper, mounted on paper
Portrait
Francis Bacon
ca. 1930
Two Trees, Peter Doig British, Oil on canvas
Two Trees
Peter Doig
2017
Untitled Self-Portrait, Eileen Agar British, born Argentina, Oil on board
Untitled Self-Portrait
Eileen Agar
ca. 1949
The Jewish Angel, Giorgio de Chirico Italian, born Greece, Oil on canvas
The Jewish Angel
Giorgio de Chirico
1916

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