SHOCKING: 2 - What They Never Told You

Francis Bacon’s Essays explore the darker side of human nature. 400 years on, they still instruct and unnerve

In our guides to the classics, experts explain key literary works.

The Conversation · Aug 5, 2025

Gameshows, Cliff Richard and Stalin’s most hated play: the British culture sent behind the iron curtain

A thaw in relations during the Cold War led to some surprising collaborations between the two nations, involving everyone from Laurence Olivier and Rudolf Nureyev to Gilbert and George. As relations ice over again, what can we learn from this artistic detente?

The Guardian - UK · Jul 11, 2025

Sir Brian Clarke obituary

Pop-influenced artist whose stained-glass creations adorned churches, mosques, airports and offices around the world

The Guardian - UK · Jul 9, 2025

Brian Singer obituary

Other lives: Art conservationist and lecturer who advised on treatment of paintings by artists including Francis Bacon and Edvard Munch

The Guardian - UK · May 11, 2025

‘He said I sounded hysterical’: Celia Paul on lover Lucian Freud, his cold friends and the ‘devastating’ YBAs

In prose and in paint, the great artist Celia Paul is exorcising the ghosts of her past – from the cruelties of her lover Freud, to his offhand cohorts, and the YBA revolution that declared painting dead

The Guardian - UK · Mar 10, 2025

‘Champagne for my real friends!’ Francis Bacon masterpiece escapes to the artist’s old drinking den

Seeing Bacon’s stunning depiction of his lover Peter Lacy hanging in a reincarnation of the watering hole where his skeletal friends would drink, stagger and cackle was a fleeting yet unforgettable experience

The Guardian - UK · Feb 26, 2025

22 Years Later, The Most Iconic Apocalypse Thriller Of The 21st Century Reveals Its Wildly Different Monster

The original inspiration for the zombies in '28 Days Later' might not be what you thought. Here's a glimpse of what could have been.

Inverse · Feb 17, 2025

Iconic review – Bardot, Bacon and the Beatles bestride the plastic fantastic age

This compact yet brilliant show looks at how painters responded to the subjugation of real life in the 1960s media age, with its explosion of photos, film and mass reproduction

The Guardian - UK · Jan 23, 2025

Unseen work by Frank Bowling with hidden image of late son goes on show

Abstract expressionist’s mysterious painting joins portraits by Warhol, Bacon and Hockney in Bath exhibition

The Guardian - UK · Jan 22, 2025

London Art Fair showcases global talent and British icons as it returns for its 37th year

With galleries from 18 countries and works ranging from Francis Bacon to emerging European artists, the 2025 London Art Fair celebrated its most international edition yet

The Independent UK · Jan 21, 2025