Opportunity knocks for art lovers after the dboor behind which some of the most expensive paintings of the 20th century were created has been put up for sale. The door to Francis Bacon's studio in a London mews has emerged after being kept by the artist's neighbour for over two decades.
The panelled wood, grey painted door for 7 Reece Mews, which led up a steep flight of stairs to Bacon's cramped bedsit/studio, is the sole remnant of the artist's studio still in his adopted city of London.
After the Dublin-born painter's death in 1992, all the items in his studio including many architectural fittings were taken to Ireland's Hugh Lane Gallery where it was recreated.
The slim door, however, was gifted to John Spero, Bacon's neighbour in the South Kensington mews, by the artist's sole heir and executor of his estate, John Edwards. It is now being offered for sale as part of the Master Painters and Pioneers sale which is being staged at Gallery 8 in London by Winsor Birch fine art house.
Its pending sale follows a series of door auctions in recent years which included Freddie Mercury's green garden one, several from New York's Chelsea Hotel, and the floating one featured in the film Titanic and kept Rose, played by Kate Winslet, alive but was apparently not quite large enough to accommodate Jack, played by her co-star Leonardo DiCaprio. Mercury's door, which was emblazoned with graffiti at Mercury's Garden Lodge in London, sold for £412,0000 three years ago.
