Artist Francis Bacon is known for his hell-raising antics in London, but the Dublin-born painter also had a soft spot for Paris. Following his hit exhibition at the Grand Palais in 1971 he took a a small studio apartment in the French capital. During this time Michael Peppiatt, the UK art historian who wrote Francis Bacon in Your Blood (2015), was his guide to the French capital, helping him navigate the City of Lights.
Peppiatt and Guillaume Cerutti, the president of the Pinault collection, were recently in attendance at the official unveiling of a plaque honouring Bacon, installed by the City of Paris. The sign can be found in courtyard of the studio-cum-apartment near the Place des Vosges where Bacon lived and worked for 13 years from 1974.
“Bacon frequently came to Paris for two to three weeks at a time. He liked the lifestyle, working in the morning, then going round all the best restaurants and clubs afterwards. It was a very full existence,” Peppiatt tells The Art Newspaper.
So how did Bacon find his Parisian property? “He was in my little flat in the Marais in the early 1970s which he liked. He came round one evening and asked if I could find a place for him,” Peppiatt continues. “He wanted a flat like mine and we found the studio near the Place des Vosges where he lived and painted in the same room.”
The author goes on to reflect on how Bacon impacted him personally. “For good or for ill he had a deep effect on my development as a person. My vision of the world opened up, he was almost fatherly towards me,” he explains. “He was very generous and very quick to help the people he liked. I admire him and his work as much as ever but more objectively now.”
