In 1949 Francis Bacon found his subject the human body and from then on it remained his principal theme. But he did not paint from life. This book presents over 200 of the working documents about which Bacon was entirely secretive but which, it emerges, were integral to his creative process.

In 1949 Francis Bacon found his main subject, the human body, and from then on it remained his principal theme. But he did not paint from life. Instead, he took from images from the mass media - newspapers, magazines, books, photos - and drew on them for his paintings.