Francis Bacon, one of the greatest painters of the twentieth century, speaks openly to his close friend Archimbaud about his life and art. The interviews took place in Bacon's studio just before his death in 1992. Francis Bacon was a self-taught painter and yet went on to become one of the greatest artists of the twentieth century, his startling studies of distorted figures in airless, enclosed spaces seeming to capture the alienation and despair of modern man. In this book he speaks frankly to his close friend Michel Archimbaud about the influences which have shaped his art. Bacon punctuates his answers with disparaging remarks about a whole host of artists including amongst others Rubens, Blake, Monet, Cezanne, Picasso, Shakespeare, Wagner and Debussy. Archimbaud's searching questions shed a new light on Bacon's work. These interviews took place in Bacon's studio between October 1991 and April 1992. They were to continue in Paris following Bacon's trip to Madrid but he died in Madrid on 28 April 1992. As such they can be seen as his last vision.