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

Triptych August 1972 (left panel)
Signed Print

Francis Bacon

Price data unavailable

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 61cm x W 49cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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The value of Francis Bacon's Triptych August 1972 (left panel) is estimated to be worth between £8,000 and £12,000. This signed lithograph print, created in 1972, has shown consistent value growth since its first sale at auction on 7th June 2017. This work is a rare entry to the market, having been sold 3 times in the last five years. The hammer price has historically ranged from £4,768 in November 2019 to £9,832 in March 2020. The average annual growth rate of this work is 12%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 180.

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Auction Results

Auction DateAuction HouseLocation
Hammer Price
Return to Seller
Buyer Paid
October 2021Artcurial France
June 2018Chiswick Auctions United Kingdom
June 2017Phillips 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 (left panel) pictures Dyer, Bacon's longstanding muse, fading away into a pitiable nothingness. 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 (left panel) betrays Bacon's grief 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.

Unlike Bacon's solid form in Triptych August 1972 (right panel), Dyer's torso seems to fade to black, disappearing into the foreboding void behind him. To the left of his figure, a fleshy pool cascades down the legs of the chair, almost like a shadow composed of his corpse. The work is revealing of Bacon's animalistic handling of the human body, leaving little room for spirituality to convey the gruesome reality of death. In the right panel of the triptych, a similar fleshy shadow is attached to Bacon's figure, perhaps signalling the lingering pain of the love which tied the pair together beyond death. Dyer's eyelids appear sealed shut with his head turned towards the centre and right panels, almost like a quiet resignation to his fate. As lover, companion, and muse, Dyer's life was marred by constant expectation which, despite his unrelenting devotion to Bacon, eventually led him to the ever-present shadow of death this work represents. Much like its companion panels, Triptych August 1972 (left 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.