His vision is a dark one. Francis Bacon painted several portraits of popes (this is number six), and they all appear trapped, isolated and anguished—but beautifully painted. The portraits are based on Diego Velázquez’s celebrated portrait of Pope Innocent X, from 1650. And through his new way of depicting the human figure, Bacon showed what a portrait can be in the 20th century. In each of several studies he made for the painting, Bacon gave the pope a different face. Ultimately, he makes viewers feel as if they were behind the scenes, witnessing a private performance by a public figure.
Bacon used Diego Velázquez’s portrait of Pope Innocent X, made in 1650, as his inspiration for the series. He considered it to be one of the finest portraits ever created, rich with insight and tension—and many art critics agree.
The uncomfortable-loooking man in question is Innocent X, who was the pope from 1644 until his death in 1655. He was a politically shrewd and unscrupulous man whose actions contradicted the name he chose as pope: Innocent.
In each of Bacon’s papal portraits, the pope is screaming. In a 1973 interview, Bacon said, “When I made the Pope screaming, I didn't do it in the way I wanted to…I wanted to make the mouth, with the beauty of its color and everything, look like one of the sunsets or something of Monet, and not just the screaming Pope. If I did it again, which I hope to God I never will, I would make it like a Monet.”