Francis Bacon
painting surfaces after 24 years

BBC News reports that a Francis Bacon self-portrait that has never been seen by the public has surfaced 24 years after being sold by the gay artist to a collector. Bacon painted Three Studies, a triptych, in 1980 and kept it for two years before selling it. The piece will be auctioned at Christies in London on June 22 and is expected to sell for 5.5 million pounds. Bacon once said: "I don't know that I should talk about a triptych in my case. Of course, there are three canvases, and you can link that to a long-standing tradition. The primitives often used the triptych format, but as far as my work is concerned, a triptych corresponds more to the idea of a succession of images on film." (The Advocate)