Study for a Self-Portrait—Triptych, 1985–86

It is a brutally honest examination of the effect of age and time on the human body and spirit and was painted in the aftermath of the deaths of many of his close friends.

Bacon believed that the fatigue of old age and the complications of fame led him to appreciate simplicity as a virtue of its own, a sentiment which he attempted to transfer into his work.

He explained to Sylvester that he continued "painting it [his face] because I haven't any other people to do...One of the nicest things Jean Cocteau said was 'each day in the mirror I watch death at work.'

[4] Formally, the work departs from Bacon's usual style, but in many ways, it can be considered as an extension of themes explored in his early-1970s Black Triptychs.

Study for a Self-Portrait continues a painterly motif that Bacon began early in his career: a spatially uniform and simple background (although the back line is curved in the centre panel, a device generally only seen in much later work).

In contrast to most of Bacon's work, this background references contemporary art, drawing on the stillness of Barnett Newman's Voice (1950), while the elegance of the figures echoes Henri Matisse's Music.