What does a 17th century pope an the “Alien” film series have in common?

In 1650, Spanish court painter Diego Velazquez made a portrait of then pope, Innocent X. The painting is considered by many art critics as one, if not the, best portrait ever  made. Apparently, Irish painter Francis Bacon, shared this view. Between the mid 1950’s and early 1960’s he created dozens of variations of the portrait (Study after Velázquez). Bacon’s unique style transformed Velazquez’s already intense portrait into an horrific, nightmarish image.

26 years later, designer and artist H.R. Giger, heavily influenced by Bacon’s paintings, created the famous “Alien” monster. Bacon himself was also influenced by Sergei Eisenstein’s scene of an elderly woman being shot during “Battleship Potemkin“. Innocent X’s dark portrait, combined with Eisenstein’s masterpiece, turned into Bacon’s disturbing screaming pope, which led to a movie franchise and an Academy Award for visual effects.

(© Francis Bacon, Brandywine Productions)