Francis Bacon Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (2025) – Limited Edition Print for Sale

About the Artwork: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

Not many paintings carry the weight of rupture as profoundly as Francis Bacon’s career-launching triptych. Completed in 1944, it announced an artist who had, almost overnight, found his mature voice. The panels are based on the Eumenides, or Furies, of Aeschylus's Oresteia, and depict three writhing anthropomorphic creatures set against a burnt orange background, executed with a speed and violence that matched the historical moment. The panels reference the traditional arrangement of a crucifixion scene, with mourners gathered around Christ. In Bacon’s hands, this grief is without purpose. These paintings confronted a wartime nation with a vision of anguish that refused sentiment or resolution.

The 2025 HENI Limited Edition

In 2025, HENI Editions worked with The Estate of Francis Bacon to produce a limited edition of 100 Diasec-mounted giclée prints on aluminium, each of which captured the raw power of this seminal artwork. Each panel matches the dimensions of the original triptych, allowing the composition to retain its architectural and immersive impact.

Who is Francis Bacon?

Even in an era filled with mavericks and iconoclasts, Francis Bacon stands out as one of the 20th century’s most original artists. His work was a conduit for the chaos, brutality and nihilism of the era. He was a legendary bon vivant, a man of tremendous personality and complex bohemian inclinations. Circling between the casinos of Monte Carlo, champagne-soaked bars in Soho and his famously turbulent studio in South Kensington, he lived firmly at the centre of the British avant garde.

There was nothing conventional in his rise to prominence. He never attended art school, and his earliest creative endeavours were as an interior designer. He destroyed most of his early work and only reached maturity as a painter in his mid-30s. The exhibition of his 1944 triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion in April 1945 was a turning point in British art. It caused an immediate sensation, and Bacon was recognised as having captured a sense of the psychological disquiet that had permeated the public conscious during the Second World War.

Bacon enjoyed critical acclaim and immense success. He was granted two lifetime retrospectives by the Tate Gallery (in 1962 and 1985 respectively) and was only the second artist after Picasso to be granted a similar survey at Paris’s Grand Palais (in 1971).

About the Artist

Bacon’s distorted figures, writhing furies and screaming Popes are among the most vivid and disturbing characters in 20th century art. He acknowledged Picasso as an important early influence, admiring how he could distort, fragment and reinvent the human body while retaining an intense psychological presence. Picasso’s Cubist and Surrealist experiments helped to expand Bacon’s sense of what painting could achieve and he used this influence to cultivate an increasingly intense, violent and anxious form of figuration.

Bacon’s imagery is often associated with the existential anxieties of the Post-War period. His figures appear vulnerable and are often trapped within stark, geometric spaces. Rather than illustrating particular events or cultivating a coherent narrative, he sought to convey the darker sensations inherent in the human experience: violence, desire, fear, mortality and the instability of identity. His work was also shaped by his position as a gay man in Britain, where male homosexuality remained criminalised until 1967.

He was a great devotee of French painting and literature, and engaged deeply with the history of European painting at large, embracing the legacies of Velázquez, Rembrandt and Van Gogh. His work also responded to the language of contemporary photography and mass media, positioning his work at the crossroads of tradition and modernity.

Why is Francis Bacon famous?

Acclaimed by critics but derided by Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as “that man who paints those dreadful pictures”, Bacon has always provoked strong opinions. His distinctive visual language and profound engagement with the masters who came before him were instrumental in helping to establish British figurative painting as an international force during the 20th century. Few other artists have so vividly used the human body to express the anxiety, violence and fragility of modern existence.

Francis Bacon Prints: Market & Collectability

Bacon enjoys a buoyant secondary market, with an auction record of $142.4 million, achieved at Christie's in 2013 for Three Studies of Lucian Freud, a 1969 triptych that briefly became the most expensive work ever sold at public auction. Over a decade later, demand for his work remains high, and Bacon is firmly established as a blue-chip artist with excellent long-term recognition.

Why collect Francis Bacon?

To collect Bacon is to hold a stake in an artist whose critical and market reputations have moved in lockstep. Acclaimed by critics, held by major museums and consistently sought ought by collectors, he remains one of the most enticing figures in British art. He felt that his triptychs reflected his greatest achievements, making this edition a highly desirable piece of his legacy.

Artwork Details

Artist: Francis Bacon

Title: Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion

Edition Year: 2025

Original Artwork: 1944

Medium: Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminium composite panels

Dimensions: 94 × 74 cm (37 × 29.1 in)

Edition: 100

Numbering: Numbered on the reverse

Signature: Printed signature on label affixed to the reverse

Condition: Mint as issued

Collecting with Lougher

Why Work with Lougher for Bacon Sourcing?

At Lougher we specialise in offering impartial advice, sourcing works, and supporting due-diligence for Bacon acquisitions. Here are the benefits:

Access to Off-Market Opportunities

We have established relationships in the London and international market and can tap into off-market opportunities.

Expert Market Insight

We provide current market intelligence (prints vs paintings, edition size, subject matter) and advise on timing and value.

Tailored Buying Advice

Whether you are entering at the sub-£10k print level or sourcing major paintings, we customise the approach.

Ongoing Collection Support

We assist with framing, condition reporting, provenance verification, and future resale planning.

Francis Bacon Availability at Lougher Contemporary

Francis Bacon's Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion (2025) is available for acquisition through Lougher Contemporary.

This limited edition of 100 offers collectors the opportunity to acquire a substantial contemporary print based on one of Bacon's most important early works.

For collectors interested in Francis Bacon prints, HENI editions, British post-war art and museum-quality contemporary prints, enquiries are invited regarding availability and acquisition.