Francis Bacon in Your Blood

In “a frank and stylish memoir,” an art historian recalls his thirty year friendship with Bacon against the background of the European art world (The New Yorker).

Michael Peppiatt first met Francis Bacon in June 1963, in the French House in Soho. Peppiatt was immediately swept into the controversial painter's world and, over oysters and champagne, they embarked on a friendship that would endure for thirty years. From Bacon's electrifying early exhibitions through the chaos of drink, drugs, and gambling—predatory homosexuals, louche clubs, and East End criminals—Peppiatt became deeply involved with the genius who created defining images of our times.

Peppiatt would go on to write Francis Bacon: Anatomy of an Enigma, perhaps the definitive biography of Bacon. But Francis Bacon In Your Blood is a far more personal account. This incredible memoir reveals Bacon at his most indiscreet and intimate while bringing the London and Paris art worlds vividly alive. It is the story of two lives closely intertwined and recalled at their most extraordinary moments.

“A candid portrayal of a very famous man who could be very generous, even with his foes, and very petty, even with his friends.” ―John Reed, The New York Times Book Review

“Every page is fresh, immediate, and flashing with glimpses into Bacon’s complicated psyche and Peppiatt’s own conundrums . . . He celebrates with ever-replenished wonder the timeless artist’s creativity, 'freedom and energy and total individuality.'” ―Booklist