Record-breaking Bacon: the 22 million portrait at Art Basel Hong Kong

“Study for Portrait of John Edwards” by Francis Bacon is the most expensive work at Art Basel Hong Kong 2025: 22 million dollars for an intimate and powerful masterpiece, marking the emotional and artistic maturity of the great British painter.

From March 28 to 30, among the bright halls of Art Basel Hong Kong, one name stands out above all: Francis Bacon. The work displayed at the stand of the prestigious Acquavella Galleries – “Study for Portrait of John Edwards” (1986) – is the most expensive of the fair, with a price of 22 million dollars. A record that does not surprise, considering the historical, emotional, and pictorial importance of this work.

A legendary meeting that becomes art

Everything began in the beating heart of Soho, in London, in 1974. The 26-year-old John Edwards, a straightforward and direct bartender, scolds Francis Bacon for ordering a case of champagne without introducing himself.

The artist, then sixty-six years old, is struck by the spontaneity of the young man, initiating a deep and lasting friendship. Edwards will become his most intimate confidant, life companion, and sole heir.

Bacon portrayed him in over twenty works. Among these, the triptych “Three Studies for a Portrait of John Edwards” (1984) stands out, sold in 2014 for 80.8 million dollars. But it is with the 1986 painting – now at the center of Art Basel – that Bacon expresses a new emotional dimension, made of balance, affection, and introspection.

The painting: rigor, grace, and depth on display at Art Basel

“Study for Portrait of John Edwards” is an oil, pastel, and paint on canvas work (198 x 147.5 cm), created two years after the famous triptych. Auctioned by Sotheby’s in 2020 for 19 million dollars (starting from an estimate of 12-18 million), today it is offered at Art Basel for 22 million, consolidating the growing value of Bacon’s late works.

The portrait depicts Edwards standing, nude, seen in three-quarters view. The colors are soft, dominated by pastel pinks, greens, and beiges. The body is vigorous yet harmonious, framed by essential architectures: an open door to the darkness, a green wall, a neutral floor. The face, with strong yet blurred features, is defined by a yellow brushstroke and a white one, almost as if to protect it.

This composition represents a turning point: the artist abandons the emotional lacerations of the ’70s, marked by the pain of the death of the lover George Dyer, to arrive at a more composed painting.

As curatrice Rachel Tant, notes in the 2009 retrospective at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, “the sense of guilt and despair give way to composure and confidence.”

Bacon, Michelangelo and Muybridge: the influences that sculpt the body

The nude in the foreground is not just a portrait, but a visual synthesis of Bacon’s figurative culture. On one side, the dynamic tension of the bodies captured by Eadweard Muybridge, a pioneer of motion photography. On the other, the monumentality of Michelangelo’s male anatomies. “Muybridge’s positions and the grandeur of Michelangelo’s forms are mixed in my mind,” Bacon himself declared.

This mix of visual references, combined with the intimacy of the subject, gives life to a work that vibrates with restrained tension and humanity.

Acquavella Galleries and the growing value of Bacon

Displayed by the historic New York space Acquavella Galleries, among the most respected names in the international modern art market, the work confirms the solidity of interest in Bacon’s late period. Asian, American, and European collectors continue to vie for his works, which combine figurative expression, historical value, and investment potential.

The presence of “Study for Portrait of John Edwards” at Art Basel is not just an exhibition event, but also a signal: Bacon’s art remains central in the global landscape, both for its visual strength and for the value it represents.

Image: Francis Bacon photographed by John Edwards, 1984 © The Estate of Francis Bacon. All rights reserved, DACS/ Artimage 2020

Francesco Antonio Russo

Social media manager at The Cryptonomist