Bacon and Freud: Graphic Works

They were the best of friends. One was a hard-drinking nihilist whose grotesque paintings plumbed the depths of spiritual torment - a literal hell-raiser. The other was in love with flesh (both on and off the canvas), whose sombre psychological impastos are some of the finest figurative works ever painted. Both were modern masters at the centre of the late 20th century art scene.

This January, you can see the work of Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud side by side, when Bacon and Freud: Graphic Works comes to Mayfair.

Both artists made prints throughout their careers, and this exhibition will provide an overview of the artists’ graphic output and demonstrate the different approaches each took to printmaking. Bacon wanted his prints to be as close to his paintings as possible - his meticulousness and desire for perfection are evident in the works on display. Similarly Freud's purist black-and-white etchings are a natural progressions from his canvases - unsettling, honest and deeply intimate.

Particular highlights include Freud's Woman with an Arm Tattoo, a familiar testament to the quality of human flesh. Look out for Bacon's lithograph Portrait of Pope Innocent X - a captivating piece of grotesquerie.