Albertina Museum hosts exhibition on Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is hosting an exhibition titled ‘What it feels like to be human’, exploring the connection between two of the 20th century’s most significant figurative painters, Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso.

Running until January 31, the exhibition features 71 works sourced from museums in Chicago, Stockholm, Mexico, London, and Paris. The collection examines how Bacon was inspired by Picasso’s surrealist and biomorphic figures, aiming to capture the essence of the modern soul and the human catastrophe following the two World Wars.

While the two artists never met in person, the exhibition highlights their shared thematic interests, including eroticism, pain, aging, bulls, nudity, and deformity, while also showcasing the distinct stylistic differences between the Spanish master and the British painter.