PICASSO – BACON: A Major Exhibition Exploring Figurative Masters at Albertina

This major exhibition juxtaposes the works of Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon, two seminal figurative painters of the 20th century. It explores their shared focus on the human figure, depicting its tornness, pain, desire, and vulnerability through distorted portrayals. The show features over 100 works, highlighting their artistic dialogue and Picasso's significance for later generations.

The exhibition "PICASSO – BACON" presents an exciting juxtaposition of two of the 20th century's most important figurative painters. Francis Bacon was inspired to become a painter by Picasso's works and throughout his life competed with him, striving to surpass him. Bacon sought to be the late 20th-century version of what Picasso was to its first half: a chronicler of the human experience in all its fractured states. Both artists placed human existence at the core of their pictorial worlds, focusing on the human figure—pulled apart, reassembled, and reinvented with unprecedented intensity. In their distorted portrayals, they elucidated pain, desire, and vulnerability, holding up a merciless mirror to the modern soul. Themes such as crucifixions, screams, bullfights, nudes, and the Tears of Eros revealed the drama of life itself. While Picasso himself was not directly influenced by Bacon, he followed his career very closely. The exhibition features over 100 works drawn from international museums and private collections. These pieces are presented in an impressive confrontation, illustrating the similarities in the oeuvres of the two masters and underscoring Picasso's profound significance for the subsequent generation of artists.

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