These works on paper have been the subject of much debate, since they came to light, mainly due to the fact that Bacon often claimed that he didn’t make drawings. There is extensive evidence that he did, but mischievously didn’t like the world to know about what foremost Bacon chronicler, David Sylvester, famously described as “Bacon’s Secret Vice”, in the catalogue for the 1999 Tate Gallery exhibition of Bacon’s works on paper.

Francis Bacon was an Irish-born British figurative painter known for his bold, grotesque, emotionally charged, raw imagery. He is best known for his depictions of popes, crucifixions and portraits of close friends. His abstracted figures are typically isolated in geometrical cage like spaces