Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne 1961

Francis Bacon made this painting, Study for Head of Isabel Rawsthorne, sometime in the 20th century using oil on canvas. Bacon's work, it’s all about the process, right? How do you capture a likeness, or more than a likeness, something truer, by scraping away? I love the way he's used that slashing white paint around the eye socket, like he's excavating the skull beneath the skin, trying to get at something hidden. You can almost smell the turpentine. It’s both violent and tender. The colour palette is minimal, raw flesh tones with these stark whites. Bacon reminds us that painting isn't about pretty pictures, it’s about grappling with the messy, uncomfortable truths of existence. Think of him alongside someone like Jenny Saville; they both distort to reveal. Art’s an ongoing conversation, a beautiful, brutal argument that never really ends.