Francis Bacon

I did some museuming over the holidays. The most powerful works I saw were at the Francis Bacon exhibition at the Tate Britain. While I had seen his work many times before, I'd never had the opportunity to see such a comprehensive retrospective.

To say that it was powerful seems, frankly, weak. Perhaps, emotionally gut-wrenching is more accurate. Because of the immersion that the Tate's retrospective provided you couldn't just move on to the next artist in the gallery. You were compelled to let the feelings wash over you. The imagery portrayed such depth of pain and sadness, it pulled you in - often unwillingly - to his world, his viewpoint.

I will never see his work again in the same way. Bacon offers an important reminder of how hard it can be for some people to smile, to be happy and the need to be tolerant and accepting of those challenges. This acknowledgment of others journeys' is particularly of importance for those of us that have enjoyed a "glass half full" existence and serves to remind that you never know when something's going to knock over the glass.