A temple to Francis Bacon in the heart of Monaco

Francis Bacon had a special relationship with Monaco. His first visit to the Principality dates back to the early 1940s. “For the young artist born during the Belle Époque, Monte-Carlo represented the height of elegance, luxury and insouciance,” explains Majid Boustany, the founder and director of the Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation. A seasoned gambler, Bacon was captivated by the ambiance of the Principality. “I remember the first time I stayed in Monte-Carlo, I was completely obsessed with the Casino and would spend entire days there […]” he said.

Francis Bacon then lived and worked in the country from July 1946 until the early 1950s. Throughout his life, he continued to pay regular visits to Monaco and the South of France with his friends, his lovers and his sister. He was particularly fond of the Café de Paris. His last stay in Monaco was in 1990, two years before his death.

The Principality provided inspiration for Bacon’s work. “The idea of using an unprepared canvas came to me when I was in Monte-Carlo in the late forties. I was out of money (no doubt I lost it at the casino!) but I had a few canvases that had already been worked on. So I turned them over and I found that it was much easier to work with the unprepared side. From that moment on, I’ve always worked on the unprepared side of the canvas,” explained the artist, who said he painted “dozens of paintings each week” there.

In another major contribution, “it was in Monaco that Bacon began to focus his work on the human form, a decisive step which led him, later in life, to be recognised as one of the major figurative artists of the post-war period. It was here that Bacon embarked on his papal portraits and his series of heads. He also adopted new working techniques,” notes the Foundation.

In addition to its own exhibitions, this temple to the British artist makes loans to solo and group exhibitions, as was the case for the “Francis Bacon, Monaco and French culture” exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum in 2016. The Francis Bacon MB Art Foundation has worked with the Beyeler Foundation in Basel, the National Portrait Gallery, the Pompidou Centre and the Lyon Museum of Fine Arts.

In 2025, as part of the Printemps des Arts festival, the Foundation is hosting musical walks through the works of the British painter admired by the French composer Pierre Boulez. For this year’s festival, which is devoted to Boulez, violinist Aya Kono will perform works by Boulez and Luciano Berio among the canvases.