Bacon and Eliot
Perhaps the most significant manifestation of the Eumenides was in Bacon’s Triptych May-June 1973, a part of his ‘three black triptychs’ which were made in memory of the recently deceased George Dyer. The foreground of the central panel is filled by the si lhouette of one of the Eumenides. The form isn’t immediately obvious, but it is noticeable with the unnatural shape of the shadow forming convex wings and two protruding limbs in what we have seen to be Bacon’s typology for depicting the Eumenides post-197 0. David Sylvester affirms this and its purpose in an article stating that it was, ‘a conscious attempt to exorcise his guilt over the part he felt he had played in bringing [Dyer’s death] about’ . 37
[Illustration 7] TRIPTYCH MAY-JUNE 1973 Oil on canvas Triptych: Each panel: 78 x 58 in. (198 x 147.5 cm) https://www.francis-bacon.com/artworks/paintings/triptych-may-june
He also states that the Eumenides in Bacon’s work were from Eliot’s The Family Reunion , arguing that his painting ‘served a similar purpose’ 38 to Eliot’s work with an obvious parallel being Harry’s guilt due to ‘the part he had played in destroying his wife Vivien's life’ . 39 With the circumstances of her suicide and the guilt Harry felt and his haunting by the Eumenides being a parallel to Bacon ’s life and Dyer’s suicide and the guilt Bacon felt for it.
In Memory of George Dyer and The Waste Land
Continuing the exploration of Dyer’s death and Bacon’s return to Eliot , a significant work to look at is Bacon’s 1971 work In Memory of George Dyer which was the first of the three ‘black triptychs’ painted in the aftermath of Dyer’s death.
37 Sylvester 2011. 38 Ibid. 39 Ibid.
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