Oedipus And The Sphinx After Ingres 1983

Francis Bacon made "Oedipus and the Sphinx After Ingres" with oil on canvas. It’s a trip. A writhing, unsettling scene rendered in fleshy pinks and grays, like something glimpsed in a nightmare. I can imagine Bacon wrestling with this canvas, pushing and pulling at the paint, trying to capture some elusive truth. Ingres meets raw, visceral emotion. It feels like he’s channeling something dark and primal. The blue loops—they could be cages or the reverberations of some psychic scream. Thick paint, thin paint, all layered to create a surface that feels both chaotic and meticulously controlled. I see echoes of Picasso in the fractured forms and sense of unease, a nod to the masters while forging his own path. Painters are always in conversation, you know? Each stroke, each color choice, is a response to what came before. Painting is a process of discovery, of embracing the unknown and letting the work lead you where it needs to go.