The BBC reports that a rare portrait of the artist Francis Bacon, painted by his contemporary Lucien Freud, is to be sold at auction at Christie's in London. The unfinished picture, which is expected to fetch between £4m and £7m, sprang from the friendship between two of the 20th century's greatest talents. Bacon died in 1992, but Freud is still working at the age of 85.
The only completed painting of Bacon by Freud was stolen from a gallery in Berlin in 1988 and never recovered. The BBC's Lawrence Pollard said Bacon was already regarded as a master painter before his death and most critics would rank him as one of the most important artists of the late 20th Century. Those same critics would also agree that Freud is the pre-eminent living painter of our age, our correspondent added. The two men met shortly after the Second World War and were both figurative painters. The auction is to be held at a Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Sunday.
Snippets of interest to lovers of Art. News about Irish Artists or otherwise. The odd rant...
Sunday
Art - Freud painting of Bacon
The BBC reports that a rare portrait of the artist Francis Bacon, painted by his contemporary Lucien Freud, is to be sold at auction at Christie's in London. The unfinished picture, which is expected to fetch between £4m and £7m, sprang from the friendship between two of the 20th century's greatest talents. Bacon died in 1992, but Freud is still working at the age of 85.
The only completed painting of Bacon by Freud was stolen from a gallery in Berlin in 1988 and never recovered. The BBC's Lawrence Pollard said Bacon was already regarded as a master painter before his death and most critics would rank him as one of the most important artists of the late 20th Century. Those same critics would also agree that Freud is the pre-eminent living painter of our age, our correspondent added. The two men met shortly after the Second World War and were both figurative painters. The auction is to be held at a Post War and Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Sunday.
