Francis Bacon's 'Trotsky' triptych tipped to fetch $75 million

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2 年前

STORY: This Francis Bacon triptych is expected to fetch up to $75 million at auction

It depicts the aftermath of Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky's

(SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART AT CHRISTIE’S EUROPE, KATHARINE ARNOLD, SAYING:

“This painting was shown in 1988 in Moscow, which, when you think about the subject matter, is fascinating for the assassination scene of Trotsky to be included in an exhibition behind the Iron Curtain in Soviet Russia. That is an extraordinary thing, and it was very much an indication of the glasnost and the perestroika that was happening in Russia at that time."

"Triptych 1986-7" also features then U.S. President Woodrow Wilson

leaving the post-World War One Treaty of Versailles meeting in 1919

and Bacon's friend John Edwards

(SOUNDBITE) (English) HEAD OF POST-WAR AND CONTEMPORARY ART AT CHRISTIE’S EUROPE, KATHARINE ARNOLD, SAYING:

“The painting is all about the passage of time. Bacon lived between 1909 and 1992, almost the full length of the 20th century. And here he's reflecting on the passage of time, those moments that were pivotal moments in history, Western history in particular, but also had implications for the whole world."