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Triptych August 1972 (centre panel) - Signed Print by Francis Bacon 1972 - MyArtBroker

Triptych August 1972 (centre panel)
Signed Print

Francis Bacon

£6,500-£9,500Value Indicator

$13,000-$19,000 Value Indicator

$11,500-$17,000 Value Indicator

¥60,000-¥90,000 Value Indicator

8,000-11,500 Value Indicator

$60,000-$90,000 Value Indicator

¥1,280,000-¥1,870,000 Value Indicator

$8,000-$12,000 Value Indicator

2% AAGR

AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.

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Medium: Lithograph

Edition size: 180

Year: 1972

Size: H 66cm x W 49cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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The value of Francis Bacon’s Triptych August 1972 (centre panel) (signed) is estimated to be worth between £6,500 and £9,500. This lithograph print, created in 1972, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 2%. This work has an auction history of two sales since its entry to the market in July 2016. The hammer price for this artwork in the last 12 months was £0. The edition size of this piece is limited to 180.

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Auction Results

Auction DateAuction HouseLocation
Hammer Price
Return to Seller
Buyer Paid
May 2022Artcurial France
July 2016Christie's London United Kingdom
July 1994Christie's London United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Created in the year following the death of George Dyer, Triptych August 1972 is an homage to Bacon's longing and regret for the loss of his lover and companion. Triptych August 1972 (centre panel) pictures Dyer and Bacon's fleshy forms melding together in this lusty yet desperate scene. Bacon met Dyer at the end of 1963 in one of Soho's pubs, and the pair's lives became instantly intertwined. Born into a family of organised crime and debauchery, Dyer was a troubled gang-associated man who, unsurprisingly, piqued the interest of Bacon's psychologically penetrative imagination. Throughout their tumultuous relationship, Bacon painted Dyer numerous times, but Triptych August 1972 (centre panel) pictures the pair in the throws of anguish after Dyer's untimely death. Just one day before Bacon's solo show at Paris' Grand Palais in October 1971, Dyer's body was discovered slumped over the toilet of his hotel suite.

At the centre of the barren composition, Dyer and Bacon's forms fuse together. The lavender pool on the ground beneath their figures appears more solidly formed than those in Triptych August 1972 (left panel) and Triptych August 1972 (right panel), potentially symbolising the solidity of their relationship in its heyday. However, the contorted shape made by their fleshy figures was inspired by a photograph of wrestlers by Eadweard Muybridge, where one of the wrestlers pins the other to the ground. Bacon's choice of this particular figurative representation is significant. Perhaps Bacon's figure attempts to pin Dyer's to the floor in a desperate attempt to save him from slinking into the black void in the background. Alternatively, their 'wrestling' figures are a fraught testament to the intense and destructive nature of the artist/muse relationship that eventually led to Dyer's demise. Much like its companion panels, Triptych August 1972 (centre panel) is thus one of Bacon's most psychologically poignant and immersive works, relaying the artist's loss, grief, and guilt during this cataclysmic year of his life.

  • Irish-born artist, Francis Bacon, has produced some of the most famous paintings in the British Contemporary canon. The 20th century maverick's visceral and emotionally charged canvases redefined figurative art. Exploring harrowing themes of trauma, sexuality, religion and violence, Bacon forces the viewer to confront the human psyche and the dark realities of human emotion. Often working from memory or his own imagination, there is a clear morphing of influences on Bacon’s work. An unusual combination of imagery is the result of his exposure to canonical artists such as Velazquez, Picasso and Rembrandt alongside his exploration of medical textbooks and photographic stills.

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