In Portrait of Michel Leiris, 1976, how is the abstract discussed?
Portrait of Michel Leiris (sometimes Study for Portrait of Michel Leiris) is a 1976 oil-on-canvas-panel painting by the Irish-born British artist Francis Bacon. It is the first of two portraits Bacon made of his  close friend, the French surrealist writer and anthropologist Michel Leiris; the second followed in 1978.
The painting has been in the collection of the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, since it was gifted by Michel and Louise Leiris in 1984. It was described by art critic and curator David Sylvester as "easily Bacon's finest portrait in close-up".
Musée National d'Art Moderne surrealist Michel Leiris David Sylvester Paris Francis Bacon anthropologist