FB: I’m not certain if I know what you’re saying.
PB: A picture being like life; a balance of chaos and order; a balance of speed and meticulous carefulness; a balance of strength and terrific delicacy; a balance of humor and terrific wisdom; morbidness and recognized beauty; primitiveness and very sophisticated quality; unconsciousness and manipulated consciousness, that kind of thing.
FB: Well, you’ve said it all for yourself. It is in a sense like that. I don’t think of a picture as the same as life, but I think in a curious way the area of pictures that I like reflect life and may return me to life more violently as any art that moves me; returns me to life more strongly.
Francis Bacon and Peter Beard, photographed during ‘The Dead Elephant Interviews’, 1972
