Picasso and Bacon: Two Fauves Face the Body at the Albertina

The Albertina Museum in Vienna is celebrating its 250th anniversary with a major autumn exhibition pairing two of the 20th century's greatest figurative painters: Pablo Picasso and Francis Bacon. Despite never having met, the two artists share an intense obsession with the human body, often depicted in states of distortion and anguish. The exhibition brings together over 100 works from museums and private collections, creating a dialogue between their contrasting temperaments. Themes include crucifixions, screams, bullfights, and deformed flesh, exploring pain, desire, and mortality. The show runs from September 18, 2026, to January 31, 2027, at the Albertina in Vienna, Austria. This is a rare opportunity to see how two masters approached the fundamental question of what it means to be alive.