Head

Head — Francis Bacon. 1951.

Medium: oil on canvas. Dimensions: Framed: 86 x 77 x 6 cm (33 7/8 x 30 5/16 x 2 3/8 in.); Unframed: 62.9 x 53.3 cm (24 3/4 x 21 in.).

Collection record: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Born in Dublin, Ireland, Bacon developed his signature motif of screaming heads trapped in glass or metal cages while working in London in the late 1940s and early ‘50s. The exploration of extreme states of emotion in these inwardly tortured figures reflects the influence of Surrealism. Bacon certainly knew Salvador Dalí‘s The Dream, a featured painting in the London International Surrealist Exhibition of 1936, and now displayed in this gallery. Bacon‘s isolated heads have strong affinities with the caged figures in the paintings and sculptures of his close friend, Alberto Giacometti.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.