Francis Bacon and the Masters

This is the book that accompanies a landmark exhibition organized jointly by the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, Norwich, and the State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg, to bring together works by Francis Bacon alongside masterpieces from the Hermitage Collection. The book and exhibition focus on Bacons known influences and inspirations, and explore his fascination with artists such as Rembrandt, Velázquez, Titian, Michelangelo, Rodin, Van Gogh, Picasso, Cezanne and Degas. The 25 paintings by Bacon, from the Robert and Lisa Sainsbury Collection as well as other public and private collections, are shown alongside paintings, sculptures and artefacts from the Hermitage that exemplify and reflect the theme of the project. Photographs from the Bacon archive in Dublin further explore the artists working methods and reveal much about his influences.