Hanging Bacon: unfinished works to go on display at gallery reopening in May

Six unfinished paintings by Francis Bacon have been acquired by the Hugh Lane Dublin City Gallery.

The gallery closed last year for a €13 million refurbishment and expansion programme.

It will reopen to the public in early May.

One of the paintings is believed to be of a long-standing friend of Bacon, Lucien Freud, and dates from about 1970.

The six canvases follow Bacon's career from his first major breakthrough in the 1940s to the last years of his life.

Gallery director Barbara Dawson said the works would be unique among paintings on public display as they are incomplete, revealing Bacon's unorthodox painting techniques.

"The Lucien Freud has never been seen before; the others have been on temporary loan to us and now they are part of our collection," she said.

She praised section 103 of the Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, which enabled the gallery to acquire the works.

Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism John O'Donoghue said the works would be a significant boost to Dublin's cultural heritage.