Bacon/Freud

Francis Bacon was a dominant figure of postwar art, and his canvases remain unmistakable for their contorted emotion and visceral physicality. Among his signature motifs were screaming and disfigured heads, grappling homosexual lovers, and flanks of meat, and his style is characterised by its flat backgrounds and sense of motion, derived from the frequent use of photography and film stills as sources for portraiture. 

The son of architect Ernst Freud and grandson of Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud’s early artistic practice was characterized by a meticulously realistic approach to painting. In the mid-1950s, Freud diverged from this previous approach in favor of looser brushwork and richer application of color. Though his style continued to evolve throughout his 70 years of painting, Freud consistently focused on translating his direct perceptions onto the canvas.