Portrait of Francis Bacon

I really admire the work of Lucian Freud, especially his unique portraiture. Being very drawn to portraiture already, this piece really stands out to me. I like this piece for the technique. This piece presents a traditional style, but in a twisted way. The piece itself is balanced very well through the angle that was chosen.The portrait exposes the subject in a traditonal-like way, capturing all of the features of the subject from a frontal-type view. This piece starts to become non-traditional through the palette/hue choices, and the structure of the facial features. For example, the eyes look a bit cartoon-like and slightly distorted. The eyes themselves appear to be very large (wide-eyed, rounded - making them very cartoon-esque). The face itself is very rounded, which could be realistic, but in real life this is not usually the case. The hues chosen for this piece are also a bit off, and the palette is not traditional. The whites appear to be slightly toned with a blue, and the darker hues on the left side of the face are toned down, and are not as vibrant in regards to skin tone. I admire this piece for the idea that it captures the subject in a realistic way. All of the details of the face are included, the tones and lighting is correct, the hair is detailed down to the wire, etc. I admire the lack of color in this piece, and how the facial expression is not happy - creating a specfic mood. The subject appears to be in thought or pondering on something, and the chosen color palette does a good job at capturing this. I love how this piece emphasizes and focuses on emotion, which is very inspiring to me. 

Image derived from: Freud, Lucian. Portrait of Francis Bacon by Lucian Freud. 1952. Painting. Ananas à MiamiWeb. 20 Nov 2013. <http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lbgZuoG83PI/TdLTCaax4eI/AAAAAAABbCs/yOa1AO4JAuU/s640/Lucian Freud - Francis Bacon 1952.jpg>.