Crucifixion (Francis Bacon, 1965)

Crucifixion is a 1965 triptych painted by the Irish-born artist Francis Bacon.

[1] The 1965 work closely follows the 1962 triptych in mood, colour and form and continues the artist's preoccupation with the imagery of the slaughterhouse.

[2] However, whereas the earlier work had an urgency and sense of struggle, the 1965 crucifixion shows defeated and butchered figures splayed on beds and hanging upside down on hooks.

The figure is covered in splintlike bandages which, according to the art critic Hugh Davies, suggest "the frilly parer collars used by butchers to dress up joints of meat".

[2] In the central panel, a half-human, half-animal hybrid figure is hung upside down from an angled scaffold structure.