Francis Bacon - In Memory of George Dyer

1971
Fondation Beyeler, Basel.

198 x 147,5 cm (each)
Oil on Canvas. Triptych

(click to enlarge)

A good picture must have energy enough at least to arouse curiosity. The darkest plot in Francis Bacon's life is brought into frames and, liking or disliking it, they certainly make you think: "what is behind that all?"

The disquieting triptych relates the very end of the exceptional alcoholic relationship between the painter himself and the once minor criminal George Dyer. Bacon, already famous when the story started, fully supported George, who would drink even more, grow sulkier and psychologically damaged till he takes his own life swallowing lots of sleeping pills in a hotel room in Paris.

This happening took place one evening before a memorable highlight in Bacons' career, his major retrospective in the Grand Palais, and ironies apart, the three-paneled picture turned out to be his masterpiece.


The first panel depicts the convulsed body of a man that transmits a confusing mix of agony and delight, an aerial structure crosses the frame, disappears in the middle, and continues in the closing, where the tragedy acts as a surreal blend of minimal melodrama and venturous composition. At the center a figure interweaves its own shadow, while the conspiracy is reinforced by a naked arm reaching up from nothing to insert a key in the lock.

Some say the artist might have planned his lover's death, since he tried to keep physical distance buying him a cottage in Kent, have shown no emotion when the concierge gave him the terrible news and because all the turbulence around the destructive affair. Others claim that Francis always loved George, rescued him from killing himself twice and felt guilty for his suicide until his own death. Either way, nobody will ever know.

Juan Davila - Schreber’s Semblance

1993
Australia

Mixed
252 x 240 cm

(click to enlarge)

One of the weightiest current artists clearly used the worn-out methods of violence, sex, and pop to gain awareness at the last documenta 12, the world's biggest exposition of contemporary art, held in Kassel Germany. Nevertheless, what does this chilean want to say with his colorful, mixed, homo-erotic narrations of masturbation, bestial sex, war and rape?

Schreber’s Semblance certainly has a lot of details to be interpreted: the american eagle as a raper, the swastika replacing the US constellation, an eye coming out of the victim ass, his leg popping out of the picture as a 3d shape, the orgasm and the subtitle "bring our boys home". Most of the people were standing at it for a long time, shooting, discussing or just staring. Is it just another outdated anti-america manifestation and revolutionary latin cliche or the whole point of it is to cause bewilderment and shake all the viewer's dogmas and signs of alienation?

Both and none. Indeed, when his whole work is analysed, a lot of these subjects come out, patriotism, violation of the native culture, late capitalism, all the traumas of latin america, even art itself. However, Juan Davila's aim is to inject political and cultural enlightment in our unconscious mind, the shocking language should make it effective and yet the questioning consequences should bloom out somewhen.

Hyeronimus Bosch - The Garden of earthly delights

1503-1504
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Oil on wood triptych
220.3 x 194.94 cm

(click to enlarge)

Although Bosch's legacy is often seen as sanctimonious, it is still one of the most acclaimed and creative work in western world. Truth be told, Hyeronimus Bosch is said to have joined The Brotherhood of Our Lady, a rich organization devoted to the worship of the Virgin Mary, but in the other hand, his life was very obscure to all and he was wealthy enough to enjoy artistc freedom.

To make it even more ambiguous, the artist dared to place lust, dogma and subconcious in the same arena: "The garden of the earthly delights". This right in the end of middle age, the pre-times of the protestant reform where people were questioning the church and giving themselves up to an hedonistic life, when plagues and hunger doomed the european continent.

The triptych is divided into eden, earth and hell, the most common interpretation says it portraits our fall from divine to wicked, but others believe there is something behind all the symbolism, if they are magical, astrological or just sarcastic, nobody can say for sure.

Very curious is that Bosch painted the face of a a tree-man, standing on two boats after his own semblance. Why would he place himself in hell? Are we all going there and there's nothing we can do about it? Is that what clero cattolico preaches?

Saint or demon, his fantastic inventiveness and allegorical scenes has a huge ressonance, inspired movements and influenced many other great artists.

Max Beckmann - Die Nacht

1918-1919
Kunstsammlung Nordrhein - Westfalen

Oil on Canvas
55.5 x 70 cm

(click to enlarge)

Max Beckmann left a very remarkable standpoint in the first half of the 20th century. The experiences as a medical orderly in the First World War turned this naturalist into an outraged and pessimist storyteller, whose stage contaminated with freaky mimics, disturbing arrangements and quite intriguing perspective, reflected in a very peculiar way all the pressure and tension of an outbursting era.

In 1915 Beckmann wrote to his wife "For me, war is a miracle, though rather an uncomfortable one. It's fodder for my art.", after the terror in the fields, the artist had a breakdown and developed a very dark point of view. The anomie and the horrifying atmosphere of these first decades triggered one of the leading frames of expressionism: The Night.

The scenario is shocking: A woman just raped. A man strangled. A child soon to be molested. All the filthyness, injustice and banalization of life had entered home, everyone is enemy at the extremism of the war. Beckmann bravely pointed out the artistic purpose of the picture "give mankind a picture of their fate".

Indeed, when we look at the relation between our actions and the violence, ambition, radicalism and pointless war, we actually face how unconsciously we live, how easy it is to adjust and accept horror, and if we finally compare that to Die Nacht, it's not difficult to perceive that alienation is still there.