French Literature Reviews - 2026
A. Milon, Bacon, l'effroyable viande
Art and Visual Culture
Alain Milon, BACON, L'EFFROYABLE VIANDE, Paris, Encre Marine, distributed by Les Belles Lettres, 2008, 96 p.
ISBN 13 (EAN): 9782350080051
€15
The paintings of Francis Bacon (1909–1992) are deeply unsettling. They make us uncomfortable. They lay bare raw flesh that serves as a grim reminder of our own condition.
Bacon’s painting is neither formless nor deformed; it has no use for outlines. It expresses both the rejection of fleshless skin seen in Fra Angelico's Deposition from the Cross (c. 1400–c. 1455) and the skinless flesh in Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson (c. 1606–1669).
Bacon’s art is crafted from very little. Unpretentious, it adheres strictly to the fact, nothing more than the fact. His flat fields of color are territories pushing from within to burst through overly restrictive boundaries.
Brutal in its impact, Bacon’s painting assaults the integrity of the body to the point of explosion. Above all, however, it remains uncompromising—as if to assert that the body is nothing more than the wreckage of meat.
Contents
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I — Rejection of the Contour
II — The Terrifying Meat
III — Brutalities
IV — The Uncircumscribed Space of the Body
V — Bodily Modulations: Only the Figure Remains
VI — The Accident Is Essential
VII — Bacon Slays the Greek
VIII — To Conclude: Touch Without Communication
Alain Milon's essay belongs to the rich tradition of French philosophical inquiry into modern art, particularly the aesthetics of the body and sensation. By focusing on the visceral reality of Francis Bacon's canvases, Milon engages with themes central to twentieth-century art criticism, where the human form is stripped of classical idealism. The book contrasts Bacon's radical approach to skin and flesh with historical masterpieces like Fra Angelico's Deposition from the Cross and Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson, tracing a genealogy of how Western art has confronted physical vulnerability.
This study helps readers navigate Bacon's complex visual language, explaining how the artist rejects traditional contours to present the body as an uncircumscribed space. By examining the transition from organized flesh to raw meat, Milon addresses fundamental questions about representation, violence, and the limits of the human figure in post-war art. This concise volume is highly valuable for students and scholars of art history, continental philosophy, and aesthetics, as well as anyone seeking a deeper understanding of how Bacon's brutal, uncompromising brushwork redefines our relationship with our own physical existence.