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Francis Bacon - A Tainted Talent (Full Documentary)

Blind Dweller

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This video contains flashing images, viewer discretion is advised.

This is the story and artwork of Francis Bacon, the famous, Irish-born experimental and figurative painter born in 1909, in Dublin. His paintings were a prominent presence within the art community over many decades following the end of WW2, after exhibiting his tryptic called "Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion", which would stun all that first saw it.

This is a full (and admittedly roughly edited) compilation video of a four-part series I worked on a while back called “Francis Bacon - A Tainted Talent”. You can still watch the original four episodes via the playlist below.

Full Series Playlist: Francis Bacon - A Tainted Talent

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20 Comments

@magzdilluh 3 years ago

In the 1989 Batman movie, a Francis Bacon painting is the sole painting that Jack Nicholson's Joker chooses to spare from destruction during the art museum scene.

@SallyBerry9 3 years ago

Before I watch this, I have to pop this here: My late Grandfather knew Francis Bacon (He also knew Lucian Freud) as he was the accountant/book keeper for a resturant called Wheelers (Sp?) that was a favourite among artists since they could pay for food with art work as most were struggling due to their studios and gallery people taking massive cuts of the sale price for pieces.
According to my Grandad, Francis Bacon would sometimes come over to talk to him when he grew bored of whoever he had been there with. My Grandad said he was a "Troubled, yet pleasant man.". My grandad was also there when the Resturant Owner asked Bacon and Freud to paint pieces of one another. (There's a piece on ArtUK that talks about that).

@kiokokoffin 3 years ago (edited)

This documentary saved my entire art career. I say this without any exaggeration, thank you so much for your incredible work. I loved his work for so many years but I watched the series a year and a half ago. I literally just had my first exhibition and I am graduating as an honors fine arts this year. I cannot express my gratitude enough. Thank you.
Edit: I just graduated from Texas A&M University and have another offer for an exhibition in my city. I have been showing my art in a few galleries this year as well. I cannot thank you all enough for your encouragement and kind words :)

@RiderOfTheBeast 3 years ago

Supposedly, Bacon's work was a partial inspiration for the Silent Hill game franchise. If true, then I can totally see why!!!

@cpl.geckell6355 3 years ago

I just saw one of Bacon's paintings in a museum the other week. It was so bizarre. I wasn't even looking for it and I didn't even know it was in there, I was just walking through the halls and outside one wing there it was, like a fucking jumpscare. I love him

@johnshields6852 3 years ago

Some of his paintings are nightmare like, it's like he could conjure a horrific image yet paint it in an interesting way, I think it's fascinating, as if he captured a dark human thought and painted it.

@ericfan9149 3 years ago

Adrian Lyne was also inspired by Francis Bacon for his film Jacob’s Ladder. In the screenplay there are biblically literal devils with horns and angels with feathered wings. Lyne wanted something more grounded and disturbing and so he looked to Bacon’s paintings as inspiration for the more abstract demons in the movie.

@matthewgabbard6415 3 years ago

It's interesting that you mentioned Turing. It's almost as if the British were willing to accept open homosexuality in an artist as that could be explained as Bohemian eccentricity. But they would not accept it in the man responsible for helping win the war. They couldn't allow a homosexual to be a hero

@Oscartherescuedog 3 years ago

One of the best, if not THE best, documentaries made on Francis Bacon. Well done 👍🏻

@poindextertunes 3 years ago

Hurt people, hurt people. His father despised him and offered him to his would be torturer, Harcourt-Smith, who no doubt terrorized Francis. To which later he would laugh about and say “he fell in love with me”….
That is a very twisted way to describe being repeatedly SA’d

@rhobot75 3 years ago (edited)

In Dublin, at one of the museums, I saw in 2016 a complete replica of his painting studio. As in, someone took everything out of it and recreated it inside the museum. Filthy! Repugnant! So visceral in effect. ... I find his work very hard to look at. The deliberate grossness of it. Genius.

@elevate000 3 years ago

Make a full documentary on Beksiński. He more than anyone deserves a documentary exploring his work and his life.

@poindextertunes 3 years ago

53:58 he’s talking about “The Flow State” in which a person is completely immersed in the task at hand. All the best kind of stuff is created from this state of being.

@poindextertunes 3 years ago

The extreme anxiety this man felt for the majority of his life must’ve been overwhelming. I’m surprised he lived as long as he did, considering he was self medicating through pretty much his entire existence.

@Mushii_333 3 years ago

Im not much of a painter, but your documentaries on these artists always inspire me to abandon my drawings and paint some. Honestly when i watch these i always improve a lot, and i feel enriched by the stories. Thank you so much for making these!

@derekspitz9225 3 years ago (edited)

1:49:20 - It's called a 'hanky hat'. Often worn by a particular type of balding, working class man on the beach at the seaside in the 30s, 40, 50 and 60s, the hanky hat is a regular handkerchief knotted at each corner and placed on the head to prevent sunburn.

I think it became associated with a type of unworldly, provincial, and unrefined factory worker for example, typically on an away day to Blackpool, Margate, Southend et al. or at a Butlin's holiday camp.

So Bacon was perhaps using the incongruous hanky hat to mock Dyer's East End, working class roots and demeanour.

@Bananaisme04 2 years ago

I need more people to appreciate nanny Lightfoot. What a woman! She was one of the only motherly figures to Francis, loved and took care of him. She moved out with him to keep him company. SHE SLEPT ON A TABLE FOR HIM. I truly hope Francis showed her how much he appreciated all she did. Love her.

@thexdude 3 years ago

I love Francis Bacon and all the artists you've talked about. Thank you for everything you do.

@MessedUpBrainspike 3 years ago

As the saying goes. "Knowledge is Power, France is Bacon".

@EddieAtom 3 years ago

Just finished watching this documentary and I really want to thank you for making this. By the very end of the video I felt really emotional hearing about his art and life that inspired it. Francis Bacon is one of my all time favorite artists and I can see myself revisiting this video again. Thank you