Voces del Prado

1990. Francis Bacon

Manuela Mena Marqués, Head of the Department of Conservation of 18th Century Painting and Goya, 1978-2019

One day he came when the Museum was closed, and I had to open the South Door, the one that leads to the Botanic Gardens. It was more or less midday and the sun was out and on that side. At that moment I had yet to meet him, so I didn’t know what he was like. I opened the door and I received the impression that the sun was flooding in, but that sun was Francis Bacon, who was already very old, with his bright white hair shining like rays of sun. That’s what I recall about Francis Bacon. He was incredibly polite and had a really special manner about him. I really think he is the most charming and polite person I have ever come across in my life. Quite the contrary to that tiresome reputation he had as a drunkard at The Colony [Room] Club, a violent man and goodness knows what else. Quite the opposite, that’s how I saw him.