Scroll up
Skip to main content

George Dyer

1934 - 1971

Bacon studio material, John Deakin, George Dyer in Soho, ca. 1963 (detail) Collection: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Photo © John Deakin Archive, Source Clipping © The Estate of Francis Bacon

Bacon’s relationship with George Dyer, whom he met in late 1963, was stormy and ultimately proved tragic. Two days before the opening of the Francis Bacon Retrospective at the Grand Palais in Paris in 1971, Dyer was found dead from a drink and drugs overdose in the bathroom of the Hotel des Saint-Pères in Paris. Bacon painted portraits of Dyer obsessively, both during his life and after Dyer’s death. Triptych May—June 1973 confronts the moment of Dyer’s death.

Images
Photograph of George Dyer standing on a street in Soho, by John Deakin

Bacon studio material, John Deakin, George Dyer in Soho, ca. 1963 Collection: Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane Photo © John Deakin Archive, Source Clipping © The Estate of Francis Bacon