Michel Serres’s Sensorial Philosophy and the Importance of Skin in Francis Bacon’s Nudes

Abstract

Prompted by the exhibition Francis Bacon: Man and Beast (January–April 2022), this article takes a cultural studies and historical poetics approach to the significance of skin in Bacon’s nudes. Drawing upon Michel Serres’s philosophy and the work of prominent figures within skin studies, this article argues that Bacon’s paintings intuitively embody the significance of skin as a dynamic site/sight of sensory, lived, experience shaped by socio-historical context. Bacon’s nudes are considered in relation to the dermalogical turn; the topological body; Didier Anzieu’s skin ego and skin as our ‘deepest surface’; and the importance of movement in Bacon’s imagery, which correlates with Serres’s notion that learning occurs through bodily motion. Serres recognises that cultural works – including painting and other creative practices – can convey complex multiplicities of knowledge synthesised into new and distinct forms.