Francis Bacon – Triptych 1987

Œdipe et le Sphinx d'après Ingres 

Artist: Francis Bacon
Title: Triptych 1987
Year: 1989 (after the 1987 painting)
Medium: Lithograph printed in colours on Arches wove paper
Image Size: 685 × 505 mm (27 × 19 7/8 in)
Sheet Size: 945 × 680 mm (37 1/4 × 26 3/4 in)
Edition: 180 — signed in pencil and numbered
Reference: S. 25
Type: Large-format limited edition lithograph

Description

Triptych 1987 (1989) is one of the most significant and largest prints Francis Bacon ever authorised — a large-format colour lithograph reproducing his monumental 1987 triptych painting, one of the last and most psychologically concentrated works of his late career. At 685 × 505 mm image size on a 945 × 680 mm sheet, this is a print of genuine physical authority — large enough to carry the full force of Bacon's imagery without the diminishment that smaller reproductive formats inevitably impose.

The triptych format was Bacon's most personal and most sustained formal invention — adopted in the early 1960s and never abandoned, the three-panel structure simultaneously referencing the altarpiece tradition of Western sacred art and Bacon's own secular, existential concerns: the isolation of the human figure, the violence of the body in space, the impossibility of communication between beings who share a world but cannot share a consciousness. In the 1987 painting — one of Bacon's last major triptychs before his death in 1992 — these preoccupations reach a final, stripped-down intensity: the figures are more isolated than ever, the space around them more vertiginous, the paint more raw.

The colour lithograph, executed in 1989, reproduces the painting with the fidelity and chromatic range that the medium allows — the orange grounds, the distorted flesh tones, the compressed spatial fields of Bacon's late manner translated into ink on Arches wove paper with a quality of surface and a depth of colour that distinguish this from mere reproduction and elevate it to the status of an independent graphic work. Arches wove — one of the most prestigious French fine art papers, associated with the highest traditions of intaglio and lithographic printing — provides the ideal substrate for the tonal complexity of Bacon's palette.

Referenced as S. 25 in the catalogue raisonné of Bacon's prints, from an edition of 180 — signed in pencil and numbered by the artist. Bacon's paintings regularly achieve seven and eight figures at auction; signed prints of this scale and period are among the most actively sought in the contemporary market.

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FAQ

Is this an original Francis Bacon print?
Yes — an original lithograph printed in colours on Arches wove paper, signed in pencil and numbered by the artist from an edition of 180.

What is the edition size?
180 impressions — signed and numbered by Bacon in pencil.

Is this work referenced in the catalogue raisonné?
Yes — listed as S. 25 in the authoritative reference for Bacon's prints.

What is the relationship between the print and the painting?
The lithograph reproduces Bacon's 1987 triptych painting — one of the last and most psychologically concentrated works of his late career — in a large-format colour lithograph executed in 1989, two years after the original painting and three years before the artist's death.

What is Arches wove paper?
One of the most prestigious French fine art papers, produced by the Arches mill — associated with the highest standards of lithographic and intaglio printing, prized for its surface quality, weight, and archival stability.

Is the work framed?
Please contact us for framing options.

Do you ship internationally?
Yes — worldwide, with museum-grade flat packaging for large-format works on paper, full insurance, and shipment tracking.

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