Francis Bacon’s 1961 female nude could sell for $15 million
One of Francis Bacon’s iconic large-scale paintings, titled Crouching Nude, will lead Sotheby’s forthcoming London evening sale of contemporary works on June 29. Never auctioned before, this 1961 oil on canvas female nude is expected to sell for as much as £9 million (about $15 million). The work is distinguished for its gloomy atmosphere in which the distorted female model grins grotesquely. Oliver Barker of auctioneers Sotheby's cited…
This work holds within its remarkable paint surfaces all the elusive mystery inherent to the artist's working method. We anticipate this painting will be highly sought after by discerning collectors across the globe.
Interestingly, Bacon never used real life models for his magnificent works. He worked with the clippings, photographs and memories of the faces and bodies of his closest friends and acquaintances as inspiration. The canvas Crouching Nude is evocative of the photographs of Bacon's friends Isabelle Rawsthorne, Henrietta Moraes and Muriel Belcher.
The 7-foot-high canvas will be on display in the New York galleries of the auction house from May 6 to May 9. A similar 1961 Bacon female nude was sold for €13.7 million ($19.2 million) at Sotheby’s in Paris in 2007. Bacon’s 1964 triptych, Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud, fetched £23 million at Sotheby’s in London this February.
