Francis Bacon and the Brutality of Fact (1987) In his London studio, the British painter discusses his work and approach with David Sylvester, a friend and close observer of his art since the late 1940s. Central to their conversation are Bacon's controversial, horrifying subjects and style. His representations of the human figure in portraits and triptychs link him, in his view, to the distorted realism of Van Gogh and Picasso, who also portrayed the intensity of life that Bacon calls "the brutality of fact."