For those who know their history, the name Francis Bacon is usually associated with an English statesman and philosopher best known for his contributions to the scientific method and to the British legal system. But there's a lesser-known Francis Bacon, an artist of the 20th century whose paintings are remembered for their passion and their pain.

Born to an English family in Dublin in 1909, Francis Bacon's life seems to be a series of difficult relationships. It began with his father, who refused to accept his son's effeminate behavior and cross-dressing, and continued with a series of well-off lovers and companions during the Twenties. He traveled across Europe, trying to find a consistent subject for his artwork. It was not until 1933 that his painting Crucifixion earned the public's attention, and as it earned a negative reaction, Bacon quit painting for nearly a decade. His career began again in 1944, with his "triptych" paintings gaining both notoriety and critical acclaim. Bacon also began a long relationship with a young man named George Dyer, whose alcoholism made him a nuisance at gallery shows and who eventually committed suicide in 1971. The loss of Dyer deeply affected Bacon and he continued to paint until his death by cardiac arrest in 1992.

As a painter, Francis Bacon is best known for his serial paintings, known as "triptychs." He would often paint a single image across three panels, focusing on scenes of pain and agony like decapitated heads, screaming faces, and imagery based on the Crucifixion of Christ. Although he occasionally produced more sympathetic portraits of friends, Bacon is perhaps best remembered for his work in the 1970s following the death of George Dyer.

From 1972 to 1974, Bacon produced a series of dark and brooding paintings known as The Black Triptychs. Each triptych is a depiction of a moment associated with Dyer's suicide, either before or after the incident. In these scenes, the comatose figure associated with Dyer is set before a doorway shrouded in darkness, highlighting the despair felt by both the artist and his lover and a sense of fragile mortality. Some of the triptychs feature Dyer being chased by winged creatures or hideous blobs of flesh. Bacon has likened these images to the Erinyes of Greek mythology; just as the Erinyes pursued the guilty, the monstrosities in these paintings are Bacon's feelings of guilt over Dyer's troubles brought to life.

While Francis Bacon has passed on, his work continues to provoke and inspire audiences and art lovers. At a recent auction sale at Christie's in New York City, one of Bacon's triptych paintings was sold for $142 million. The painting, Three Studies of Lucian Freud, is a depiction of a contemporary artist by the same name, paying tribute to the friendship he had with Bacon. At the time of this writing, it was recorded as the highest price for a work of art yet paid and the painting is widely considered to be one of Bacon's masterpieces.

To see more artworks by Francis Bacon, you find collections of his paintings at the Tate Gallery in London and the Hugh Lane Gallery in Dublin.

Image by Playing Futures: Applied Nomadology on Flickr