''Crucifixion'' ( CR 33-01) is an early oil on canvas painting by

Francis Bacon Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Alban (; 22 January 1561 – 9 April 1626), also known as Lord Verulam, was an English philosopher and statesman who served as Attorney General and Lord Chancellor of England. Bacon led the advancement of both ...

, made in 1933 when Bacon was aged 23 or 24. It was one of three paintings on the subject of

the Crucifixion The crucifixion and death of Jesus occurred in 1st-century Judea, most likely in AD 30 or AD 33. It is described in the four canonical gospels, referred to in the New Testament epistles, attested to by other ancient sources, and considere ...

that he made in 1933, the others being his '' Crucifixion with Skull'' (CR 33-03), commissioned by art collector Sir Michael Sadler, and '' Wound for a Crucifixion'' (later destroyed by Bacon). It is held in

Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingd ...

's Murderme Collection. The sombre work in tones of black, white and grey shows an abstracted white human figure with arms raised against a dark background. Space is marked out by lines denoting walls meeting a floor, and the horizontal bar of the cross. The subject, Jesus on the cross, is depicted like a

stick man ''Stick Man'', written by former Children's Laureate Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler, is a children's story about an anthropomorphic wooden stick who becomes separated from his family home and his ''Odyssey''-like adventure t ...

, with thin white arms looping up the crossbar, thin legs, and the head, hands and feet reduced to white blobs. The diaphanous body appears to be opening up like the folds of a ghostly cloak with the suggestion of ribs inside, resembling a

grisaille Grisaille ( or ; french: grisaille, lit=greyed , from ''gris'' 'grey') is a painting executed entirely in shades of grey or of another neutral greyish colour. It is particularly used in large decorative schemes in imitation of sculpture. Many g ...

reworking of an anatomical still life by Chardin or Soutine, or

Rembrandt Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn (, ; 15 July 1606 – 4 October 1669), usually simply known as Rembrandt, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally consid ...

's 1638 painting '' The Slaughtered Ox''. It measures . Like another 1933 Bacon painting, ''After Picasso, "La Danse"'' (CR33-02), it may be based in part on

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

's 1925 work '' The Three Dancers'' (Tate Gallery), which has a central naked stick-like figure standing on one leg with arms raised in a Y-shape. It may also have been influenced by Bacon's familiarity with Catholicism from his upbringing in Ireland, and more immediately by his attendance at the

Oberammergau Passion Play The Oberammergau Passion Play (german: Oberammergauer Passionsspiele) is a passion play that has been performed every 10 years from 1634 to 1674 and each decadal year since 1680 (with a few exceptions) by the inhabitants of the village of Obera ...

in April 1930. There may also be echoes of the political violence in 1933 Germany, accompanying

Adolf Hitler's rise to power Adolf Hitler's rise to power began in the newly established Weimar Republic in September 1919 when Hitler joined the '' Deutsche Arbeiterpartei'' (DAP; German Workers' Party). He rose to a place of prominence in the early years of the party. Be ...

. In turn, along with

Matthias Grünewald Matthias Grünewald ( – 31 August 1528) was a German Renaissance painter of religious works who ignored Renaissance classicism to continue the style of late medieval Central European art into the 16th century. His first name is also given ...

's ''

Isenheim Altarpiece The ''Isenheim Altarpiece'' is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Nikolaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald in 1512–1516. It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in France. It is Grünewal ...

'', Bacon's ''Crucifixion'' influenced

Graham Sutherland Graham Vivian Sutherland (24 August 1903 – 17 February 1980) was a prolific English artist. Notable for his paintings of abstract landscapes and for his portraits of public figures, Sutherland also worked in other media, including printmaking ...

's 1946 crucifixion for

St Matthew's Church, Northampton St Matthew's Church, Northampton is a Church of England parish church in Northampton, within the Diocese of Peterborough. The church is a Grade II* listed building. It was erected (1891–4) in memory of brewer and MP, Pickering Phipps, bes ...

, and it has been cited as an inspiration for

Jonathan Demme Robert Jonathan Demme ( ; February 22, 1944 – April 26, 2017) was an American filmmaker. Beginning his career under B-movie producer Roger Corman, Demme made his directorial debut with the 1974 women-in-prison film ''Caged Heat'', before ...

in 1991's film '' The Silence of the Lambs''. It was Bacon's first work to attract public attention and the first to be reproduced in print when published in

Herbert Read Sir Herbert Edward Read, (; 4 December 1893 – 12 June 1968) was an English art historian, poet, literary critic and philosopher, best known for numerous books on art, which included influential volumes on the role of art in education. Read ...

's book ''Art Now: An Introduction to the Theory of Modern Painting and Sculpture'' (1933), opposite Picasso's 1929 work ''Baigneuse aux bras leves'' ("Female bather with raised arms") (Phoenix Art Museum). Bacon's painting was exhibited at the

Mayor Gallery The Mayor Gallery is an art gallery located in Cork Street, London, England. Since its foundation by Fred Mayor in partnership with Douglas Cooper in 1925, it has promoted modern and contemporary art. Since the early 1970s, under the new impul ...

under the title ''Composition (1933)'' and bought by Sir Michael Sadler. Sadler also commissioned a new painting from Bacon: he sent Bacon an x-ray of his skull to be included in the painting, resulting in the 1933 work '' Crucifixion with Skull'' (sometimes known as ''Golgotha''). The sales enabled Bacon to hold his first solo exhibition in 1934, in the basement at Sunderland House,

Curzon Street Curzon Street is located within the Mayfair district of London. The street is located entirely within the W1J postcode district; the eastern end is north-east of Green Park underground station. It is within the City of Westminster, running ap ...

in London, but Bacon was downcast at a negative review published in ''The Times''. He submitted works for the

International Surrealist Exhibition The International Surrealist Exhibition was held from 11 June to 4 July 1936 at the New Burlington Galleries, near Savile Row in London's Mayfair, England. Organisers The exhibition was organised by committees from England, France, Belgium, Sca ...

in London in 1936, but in a further blow they were rejected as not being "sufficiently surreal". Some of his works were included in an exhibition of "Young British Painters" at

Thomas Agnew & Sons Thomas Agnew & Sons is a fine arts dealer in London that began life as part of in a print and publishing partnership with Vittore Zanetti in Manchester in 1817 which ended in 1835, when Agnew took full control of the company. The firm opened its Lo ...

in 1937. Disappointed with his reception and progress, Bacon destroyed many of his early works (including his 1993 painting '' Wound for a Crucifixion'', one of few he later regretted losing) and turned away from painting for several years. He later admitted that his early works were not successful: merely decorative and lacking in substance. After a dissolute period of drinking, gambling, and love affairs, he returned to painting and in 1944 to the theme of the Crucifixion, adding organic forms inspired by

Aeschylus Aeschylus (, ; grc-gre, Αἰσχύλος ; c. 525/524 – c. 456/455 BC) was an ancient Greek tragedian, and is often described as the father of tragedy. Academic knowledge of the genre begins with his work, and understanding of earlier Greek ...

's ''

The Oresteia The ''Oresteia'' ( grc, Ὀρέστεια) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus in the 5th century BCE, concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra, the murder of Clytemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of th ...

'', in his breakthrough work, '' Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion'', the second panel of which echoes the motif of three lines emerging from a central figure. After Sadler's death in 1943, Bacon's 1933 ''Crucifixion'' was acquired by Colin Anderson after it was exhibited at the

Redfern Gallery The Redfern Gallery is an exhibition space in the West End of London specialising in contemporary British art. It was founded by Arthur Knyvett-Lee and Anthony Maxtone Graham in 1923 as an artists' cooperative on the top floor of Redfern Hous ...

in 1946. It is now held in

's Murderme Collection.

References

''Crucifixion'' 1933 (CR 33-01)
Estate of Francis Bacon
''Crucifixion with Skull'' 1933 (CR 33-03)
Estate of Francis Bacon
''After Picasso, "La Danse"'' 1933 (CR33-02)
Estate of Francis Bacon
Picasso, ''The Three Dancers'', 1925
Tate Gallery
Picasso, ''Female bather with raised arms''
Phoenix Art Museum
Francis Bacon: Five reasons to visit
Tate Gallery
Francis Bacon Artworks
The Art Story

"Picasso and Bacon: two giants of art"
Art Gallery of New South Wales, 17 October 2012
"Slaughterhouses and the smell of death: Francis Bacon’s vision of the Crucifixion"
The Guardian, 3 April 2015
"Francis Bacon and the Masters review – a cruel exposure of a con artist"
The Guardian, 15 April 2015
The Grotesque in Art and Literature: Theological Reflections
p. 144, 169-171
Ecce Homo: The Male-Body-in-Pain as Redemptive Figure
p. 136-140 {{Francis Bacon (artist) Paintings by Francis Bacon 1933 paintings Paintings depicting the Crucifixion of Jesus

See also

References