The Death of Francis Bacon by Max Porter: book review

The Death of Francis Bacon (2021) is set in Madrid in 1992 on Francis Bacon’s deathbed in a private Catholic clinic.

This short book is the re-imagination of Irish artist Francis Bacon (1909-1992) and his last days in the care of Sister Mercedes. In his 80s, Francis was on holiday in Madrid when he collapsed with chronic asthma. He could barely talk – he could barely breathe.

This experimental novel is structured in seven vignettes: seven of Bacon’s oil paintings in the artist’s mind, speaking for themselves about their creator.

Sister Mercedes is sometimes in the room and the reader hears her asking Francis about his health. It depicts the juxtaposition of his health between his clear and lucid speech when he is pain-free and his delirium when he is in pain.

The paintings, when they speak to Francis, ask him about his works: Is he just a colourist ‘in the childish sense? He draws his simple pictures and he colours them in.’ Bacon defends his works: ‘Find me a painter alive today who can do what I can do in the time I can do it, no help. Alone.’

But where does Francis want the viewer to look when viewing his work? ‘I want the eye to trundle off … get some distance, stand back …’

From the fragmented thoughts of Francis, readers gain a disjointed, chaotic mess of creative ramblings and memories, and angst and defiance – rather like a written visualization of a Bacon masterpiece.

MARTINA NICOLLS

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MARTINA NICOLLS is an international aid and development consultant, and the author of: The Paris Residences of James Joyce (2020), Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom (2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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