Francis Bacon in Conversation with Michel Archimbaud

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by Francis Bacon

Phaidon Press

Due/Published March 1994, 191 pages, paper

ISBN 0714829838

Francis Bacon, a self-taught painter, became one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century. Here he speaks openly to his close friend Michel Archimbaud who sets out to discover the man behind the paintings. His searching questions shed a new light on Bacon's work in spite of his claim that he finds it impossible to talk about his painting. He talks candidly about his childhood, his relationship with his father, his friends and the influences which have shaped his art. The discussion is wide-ranging, touching on painting, literature and music. The interviews are punctuated with Bacon's revealing and sometimes disparaging remarks about a whole host of artists including amongst others Rubens, Blake, Monet, Cezanne, Picasso, Balthus, Giacometti, Shakespeare, Baudelaire, Wagner, Debussy and Schonberg. These interviews, conducted in French, took place in Bacon's studio between October 1991 and April 1992. They were to continue in Paris following Bacon's trip to Madrid, but he died in Madrid on 28 April 1992. As such these conversations can be seen as his last recorded thoughts.