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Arts feature

Feral showstoppers and some of the greatest paintings of the 20th century: Francis Bacon at the RA reviewed

Francis Bacon sensed our inner beastliness and painted it with astonishing power, says Martin Gayford

29 January 2022

9:00 AM

29 January 2022

9:00 AM

The superb new exhibition at the Royal Academy, Francis Bacon: Man and Beast, is not a retrospective. Nonetheless it is one of the most revealing presentations of this great painter’s work I have ever seen. It follows one of the most important of the chains of thought and feeling that ran through his art — animality: the beastliness in humanity, and the humanity of beasts.

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Francis Bacon: Man and Beast is at the Royal Academy until 17 April.

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