Intimate Distortions

Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer (1963), currently on long-term loan to the permanent exhibition of Modern and Contemporary Art at the Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart, exemplifies Francis Bacon’s renowned small-format triptych portraits. Born in Ireland, Bacon became one of the most significant painters of the 20th century. The paintings depict George Dyer, his lover and muse, whom he first met in London in 1963, shortly before this triptych was painted. A passionate, often tumultuous relationship followed, lasting almost a decade before tragically ending in 1971, when Dyer died of an overdose on the eve of Bacon’s landmark solo exhibition at the Grand Palais in Paris. Dyer thus became a central figure in Bacon’s art, appearing in over forty of his works.

It is worth noting that this is not the first time the Nationalmusée um Fëschmaart has showcased works by Bacon. In autumn 1995, during Luxembourg’s tenure as European Capital of Culture, the then Musée national d’histoire et d’art hosted the exhibition From London: Bacon, Freud, Kossof, Andrews, Auerbach, Kitaj, organised by the British Council in collaboration with the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. The show presented six British figurative painters from the so-called London School, including Bacon, and featured two of his major triptychs from the early 1980s.

The small-format triptych portraits became a distinctive feature in Bacon’s oeuvre, a format to which he returned regularly from 1962 onwards. Typically, they consist of two side profiles flanking a central, frontal view, a composition that creates the sensation of the subject surrounding the viewer and confronting them from all angles. At the same time, they evoke the aesthetic of photographs, Bacon’s preferred visual source for his portraits, as he rarely relied on live sittings. To this end, he often asked his photographer friend, John Deakin, to provide him with photos, which he would then use as the basis for his portraits.

Compared to Bacon’s larger, more dramatic triptychs, his small-format paintings allow for a more direct and intimate connection with their subjects. In the case of Dyer’s portraits, the latter’s face is set against a dark, almost oppressive background, with no clear spatial or narrative context, a deliberate choice that focuses the viewer’s attention entirely on the face. The comparison to religious iconography feels particularly fitting, given that triptychs have historically been used in religious settings, no­tably as altarpieces and devotional images. In this way, Dyer takes on an almost sacral dimension. As Richard Calvocoressi rightly notes, Bacon’s small-format triptychs “open up a rich vein of intimacy in Bacon’s art; they are like private, devotional portraits”.

It is no coincidence that Bacon reserved these small-scale portraits almost exclusively for those closest to him: his lovers and friends. They feel personal, one could almost say intrusive. As viewers, we are drawn in close, confronted with faces that are raw and unguarded. Looking at Three Studies for Portrait of George Dyer, we see Dyer’s features stretch and distort, creating a sense of instability and fragmentation. Bacon’s virtuosic use of paint, smeared, smudged and scratched away, gives the heads a sense of movement and vitality, as if they were shifting before the viewer’s eyes. The result is both chilling and deeply moving. More than a mere portrait, it provides an insight into an intimate and complex relationship that was marked by passion and loss. While the work may not overtly address queer identity, it takes on additional meaning when considered against the backdrop of Britain in the 1960s, where sexual acts between men were largely illegal, with only a partial decriminalisation taking place in 1967.

In a 1991 interview by Francis Giacobetti, Bacon said: “The only things that interest me are people, their folly, their ways, their anguish, this unbelievable, purely accidental intelligence which has shattered the planet, and which maybe, one day, will destroy it.” This fascination with the human condition is unmistakably felt in his small-format portraits. Personal, honest and impossible to look away from, they offer a direct confrontation with the intricacies and hardships of life itself. 

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Lis Hausemer is Assistant Curator of Fine Arts at the MNAHA. She is co-curator of the exhibition Collections/Revelations. Modern and Contemporary Art, whereby her primary focus is on the Luxembourg art collection. 

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1 Richard Calvocoressi, “Bacon: Public and Private”, in: Martin Hammer (ed.), Francis Bacon. Portraits and Heads [exhib. cat.], Edinburgh, National Galleries of Scotland, 2006, p. 11.

2 Francis Giacobetti, “Interview with Francis Bacon”, 1991, in: Laura Cosendey and Adriano Pedrosa (eds.), Francis Bacon. The Beauty of Meat [exhib. cat.], São Paulo, Museu de Arte de São Paulo, 2024, p. 226.