Advertisement

Exhibition explores animal instincts of Francis Bacon

Irish-born Bacon was one of the most acclaimed artists of the 20th century, known for his idiosyncratic approach to the human figure.

The exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts aims to show how he believed the line between humans and animals and their forms and instincts could be blurred.

Royal Academy of Arts creative director Andrea Tarsia had this to say about the famed artist, "he really fundamentally believed that beneath the very thin veneer of civilization, we are ultimately all animals. We are part of the animal kingdom and we are driven by very base instincts of violence, the thirst for power, a sexual drive and sexual urges. But these kind of exist in a sort of tangled mass beneath this kind of civilized surface."