A remarkable Francis Bacon painting titled "Portrait of a Dwarf" is set to go under the hammer at Sotheby's London next month on October 16, with an estimated value of £9 million ($11 million). The 1975 work carries an extraordinary backstory as it represents only half of what was originally a larger canvas that the renowned British artist chose to divide.
The painting was initially part of a more complex composition featuring two intertwined figures representing Bacon and his lover George Dyer, who tragically died by suicide in 1971. The original work included both the two caged lovers and a dwarf observer, creating what Bacon later felt was too strong a narrative element. In an unprecedented artistic decision, Bacon chose to physically cut the canvas into two separate pieces, giving the section depicting the two figures to art historian Michael Peppiatt.
The companion piece, known as "Two Figures," was subsequently sold at Christie's London in February 2016 for £5.5 million including fees, against an estimate of £5-7 million. According to the Sotheby's catalogue, the current "Portrait of a Dwarf" was acquired directly from Bacon by its present owner in 1975, suggesting it has remained in private hands for nearly half a century.
Michael Peppiatt, who wrote a comprehensive biography of Bacon in 2015, provided fascinating insight into the artwork's creation in the accompanying catalogue essay. "I'd had a marvelous head of the writer Michel Leiris which Francis took back to work on—it's now in the Centre Pompidou—and to replace it I was offered this huge canvas with two figures and a dwarf onlooker which I was very pleased with," Peppiatt recalled. "Then Francis came round to my little flat one evening for drinks and he took that back too. He felt there was too strong a narrative element in it, and he decided the best way to remove that was simply to cut the image into two self-sufficient, beautifully painted halves."
Peppiatt expressed his honor at receiving the "Two Figures" section, noting, "I was very proud to be entrusted with the Two Figures section because it records such an intense, intimate moment in his life so memorably." Meanwhile, Bacon retained the "Portrait of a Dwarf" and took the extraordinary step of exhibiting it as property of the artist in several prestigious exhibitions, most notably at the renowned Galerie Claude Bernard gallery in Paris in 1977.
The subject matter of "Portrait of a Dwarf" demonstrates Bacon's deep artistic connection to classical masters, particularly Diego Velázquez. Alex Branczik, Sotheby's European chairman of modern and contemporary art, noted in a statement that the work "calls to mind Bacon's profound connection with Velázquez, as seen in his Pope series." This reference points to Velázquez's historical portraits of court dwarfs—people of short stature who were owned and traded across royal courts to provide service or entertainment during the Spanish Golden Age.
Specifically, the painting evokes Velázquez's portrait of Sebastián de Morra, a jester at the court of Philip IV of Spain, painted around 1644 and currently housed at the Prado Museum in Madrid. This historical connection demonstrates how Bacon drew inspiration from classical European art while transforming it through his distinctive modern lens.
The upcoming sale represents a significant moment for collectors, as the painting comes from a private collector who purchased it 40 years ago, according to The Times. The same collection has also consigned another important Bacon work, "Study for Self-Portrait" from 1980, to the October Frieze week sale with an estimate of £6 million. Additionally, the collection includes two bronze sculptures by Auguste Rodin—"Jean de Fiennes, vêtu, Grand Modèle" and "Pierre de Wiessant, vêtu, Grand Modèle," both conceived between 1885-86 and cast in 1984, each carrying estimates of £600,000-900,000.
This auction highlights the continued strong market demand for Bacon's work and represents a rare opportunity to acquire a piece with such a unique provenance and artistic significance. The fact that Bacon physically divided the original canvas adds an additional layer of intrigue and value to both resulting works, making "Portrait of a Dwarf" not just a painting, but a tangible piece of art history that documents the artist's creative process and personal relationships.
