Newly available in paperback, this critically acclaimed book addresses important questions about Bacon's painting practice and sheds new light on his life and work.With the aid of over 250 source images and documents, it reveals how photography, film, mass-media imagery and other sources informed Bacon's painting and, in particular, how 'lens-based images' helped to trigger the most significant turning-point in his stylistic development. The book's analysis of elements of Bacon's biography and psychology leads to some startling and original insights into the man and the unique iconography of his art.