Francis Bacon

The first major exhibition in New York in twenty years devoted to one of the most important painters of the twentieth-century, Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective features 130 works (sixty-five paintings and sixty-five archival items) that span the entirety of the artist's full and celebrated career. The landmark exhibition and its accompanying catalogue, which mark the centenary of the artist's birth in Dublin in 1909, bring together the most significant works from each period of Bacon's career, focusing on the key subjects and themes that run through his extraordinary creative output. This presentation affords the most comprehensive examination to date of Bacon's sources and working processes, offering a reevaluation of the artist's work in light of a range of new interpretations and archival materials that have emerged since his death in 1992. The Metropolitan is the sole United States venue for this exhibition, which draws from public and private collections around the world.