Francis Bacon, Human Presence at the National Portrait Gallery in London from October 10 will be the first exhibition in nearly 20 years to focus on the artist’s portraits. Through five key phases, – Portraits Emerge, Beyond Appearance, Painting from the Masters, Self-Portraits and Friends and Lovers – the show will chart the evolution of Bacon’s practice and explore how he embraced and challenged traditional definitions of potraiture. With more than 50 rarely seen works from private collections around the world it explores an engagement with portraiture from the 1940’s with a focus on self portraits and images of key sitters including lovers and friends. These will be displayed alongside rarely seen photographs and portraits of Bacon from the gallery’s collection by leading 20th century photographers like Cecil Beaton, Arnold Newman and Bill Brandt. The first major exhibition of portraits by Bacon at the National Portrait Gallery runs until January 19, 2025.