LACMA installs $142M Bacon triptych
LACMA has installed a $142‑million Francis Bacon triptych in its new Geffen Galleries — a headline acquisition for the museum’s reopening spaces. — the installation underscores major museum reshuffling and blockbuster collecting this spring. (latimes.com)
The triptych is Francis Bacon’s Three Studies of Lucian Freud (1969), a three‑panel work that Elaine Wynn acquired at Christie’s in November 2013 when it established a then‑record auction result. (lacma.org) LACMA says this gift is the first Bacon to enter its collection and — uniquely for the region — the only Bacon painting in a Los Angeles public collection and the sole Bacon triptych in any California public collection. (unframed.lacma.org) The work came to LACMA as a bequest from the estate of Elaine P. Wynn, who served as a co‑chair of LACMA’s board and died on April 14, 2025. (lacma.org; wikipedia.org) (lacma.org) The triptych is being placed in the David Geffen Galleries — Peter Zumthor’s new building that will house LACMA’s permanent collection and that is scheduled to open to the public in April 2026 — with the north wing now bearing Wynn’s name in recognition of her lead gift. (lacma.org; artdaily.cc) (lacma.org) The Wynn estate directed Christie’s to offer roughly 20 other blue‑chip works at auction in November 2025, with the house estimating a combined sale total in the neighborhood of $75 million. (theartnewspaper.com; artnews.com) (theartnewspaper.com) LACMA director Michael Govan, on site during the move‑in, said the museum and Wynn’s family had long planned for the work to become part of the new permanent‑collection display. (latimes.com 1) (latimes.com 2)
