Étude pour une corrida

Bacon's interest in bullfighting developed through several trips to Spain and southern France during the 1960s. The drama and brutality of the spectacle clearly struck a chord with the artist, who began collecting reference materials and images which he would annotate in his characteristic working style. In 1969 Bacon conceived three large scale works intended to form a Bullfighting triptych. Ultimately Bacon decided that each work should stand alone as each individual composition focusing the viewer's attention on the precise choreographed movement in the arena, and as such was a closer reflection of the Art of the Corrida.