Francis Bacon was born in Dublin, Ireland to British parents in 1909. He moved to London in the 1920’s as his relationship with his father soured due to his emerging sexual identity as a homosexual.
Bacon lived a near vagrant life in and around London and spent a lot of time drinking and gambling in Soho. He survived on a very small allowance and was living in poverty until he started to become involved with interior/furniture design. Subsequent to this he was encouraged to take up oil paining by one of his patrons. He found his first breakthrough in 1944 with his triptych Three Studies for Figures at the Base of a Crucifixion. Many of his works would be oil on wood in either diptych or triptych form and more often than not they would feature many of his famous friends.
He found inspiration from a broad range of movements and artists, such as the great Dutch artist Rembrandt, Pablo Picasso and some early surrealist paintings.