Why Francis Bacon Kept Repainting This Pope
The original is the point
People arrive here having seen the screaming ones and expecting them, which is an understandable mistake and worth correcting before you buy a ticket. Bacon’s popes are elsewhere, in other collections entirely. This gallery holds the picture he worked from — painted probably in the summer of 1650, oil on canvas, 141 by 119 centimetres, and displayed since 1927 alongside Bernini’s marble bust of the same pope. The portrait itself.
Standing in front of it, the obsession makes more sense than it does in reproduction. Hippolyte Taine wrote that once the picture has been seen it is impossible to forget, which is as good a description of Bacon’s problem as anyone has managed. The face is already doing most of the work.
Look at the original for a while before you go back to the Bacon versions in your memory. The shock is not that Bacon distorted the picture — it is how little he had to distort.
The gallery does not label its pictures the way a modern museum would, so nothing on the wall is going to tell you any of this. The commentary included with admission, recorded by the family, is how the room gets explained — what the audio guide is.
Seeing the one he could not leave alone
Reserved entry to the gallery and the Velázquez Cabinet, 4.7 from 1,910 reviews, collected at the desk at Via del Corso 305. The included audio guide comes with it, subject to availability.
Frequently asked questions
Are there Francis Bacon paintings at the Doria Pamphilj?
No. Bacon’s more than forty-five variants after this portrait are in other collections. What hangs here is the Velázquez original that he worked from.
How many pope paintings did Bacon make?
More than forty-five known variants in the 1950s and early 1960s, including Head VI of 1949, Pope I of 1951 and the 1953 Study after Velázquez’s Portrait of Pope Innocent X.
Where is the original?
In the Velázquez Cabinet on the gallery route here, shown with Bernini’s bust of the same pope since 1927. Entry runs in 30-minute slots — whether you need to book.