This is a magnificently illustrated volume that showcases the unique work of Francis Bacon - one of the 20th century's most celebrated artists. The centenary of Francis Bacon's birth is being celebrated with major exhibitions at the Tate Britain, The Prado Museum in Madrid, and The Metropolitan Museum in New York. Francis Bacon (1909-1992) was arguably one of the greatest artists of the twentieth-century. The violent intensity with which his paintings give expression to the existential angst of his fellow human beings is virtually without parallel in the history of art. His oeuvre undoubtedly includes some of the most extraordinary and powerful paintings in modern art. Published to coincide with the centenary of the artist's birth, this magnificently illustrated volume features more than 140 stunning reproductions of Bacon's work - including his series of portraits and self-portraits, the strangely beautiful yet terrifying variations of Velazquez's Pope Innocent X , the painfully moving Crucifixion , his enigmatic figure studies, and twelve gatefold's of the powerful triptychs - all of which were selected for inclusion in this monograph by the artist himself before his death in 1992.