The creative process is a cocktail of instinct, skill, culture and a highly creative feverishness. It is not like a drug; it is a particular state when everything happens very quickly, a mixture of consciousness and unconsciousness , of fear and pleasure; it's a little like making love, the physical act of love.
Francis BaconI feel that I am much freer if I'm on my own, but I'm sure that there are a lot of painters who would perhaps be even more inventive if they had people round them... I find that if I am on my own I can allow the paint to dictate to me. So the images that I'm putting down on the canvas dictate the thing to me and it gradually builds up and comes along.
Francis BaconSome paint comes across directly onto the nervous system and other paint tells you the story in a long diatribe through the brain.
Francis BaconI don't believe art is available; it's rare and curious and should be completely isolated; one is more aware of its magic the more it is isolated.
Francis BaconRevenge is a kind of wild justice, which the more a man's nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out.
Francis BaconRead not to contradict and confute; nor to believe and take for granted; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weigh and consider. Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested: that is, some books are to be read only in parts, others to be read, but not curiously, and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention.
Francis Bacon