Often, artists are inspired by serene landscapes, flowers, or other naturally occurring beautiful phenomenons. It is common for amateur artists to paint predictable, aesthetically pleasant scenes such as a glowing sunset or a serene still life. Other artists are bored to tears by these mundane subjects. One such artist would be the surrealist modern artist Francis Bacon. He was not inspired by things we consider to be beautiful. Rather, Bacon's favorite subjects were the bloody crucifixion of Jesus and a notoriously upsetting silent film depicting the sinking of the Russian battleship Potemkin. His interest in dark themes led to the creation of controversial paintings depicting anxiety and turmoil.

The Crucifixion was a common theme especially in early Medieval art. In the Medieval period, nearly all art had an underlying religious theme, glorifying Christianity. But Francis Bacon was completely uninterested in any religious aspects of the Crucifixion. Instead, Bacon was drawn to the sheer amount of human suffering depicted in what is an undeniably iconic image. In the average crucifixion scene, Christ, worshiped and adored by hundreds of millions, is show in excruciating pain. His ankles and wrists have been mutilated by having nails driven through them.

A gash was slashed near his ribs and he wears a painful crown of thorns. Medically, the weight of a crucifixion victim's own chest cavity will collapse onto their lungs, causing a painful death from suffocation. Having grown up in a tormented living situation, Bacon was drawn to depictions of torment and human suffering. Crucifixion imagery is a constant throughout Bacon's diverse career, with recognizable crucifixion scenes dating back in his works as far as 1933.

Other extremely common motifs in Francis Bacon's work are screaming and open mouths. Bacon was particularly drawn to one still frame of a woman screaming from the 1925 silent movie The Battleship Potemkin. The Battleship Potemkin tells the story of a mutinous crew seeking revenge on the vicious high-ranking officers on their ship. The film, created in installments, has cheerful chapter titles such as "A Dead Man Calls for Justice" and "Men and Maggots." There are several iconic, disturbing scenes in the film.

One riot scene features a mother being shot who then reaches for her child, but to no avail. The baby's carriage is pushed downstairs into an angry, fighting mob. Another scene, Bacon's favorite, showed an explosion in a hospital. A visibly distressed nurse, spectacles shattered, bleeding from her right eye socket, her mouth contorted in an anguished scream. This still frame was exceptionally effective in showcasing the film's propagandist and extremist sentiment. Despite this, it was the sheer pain of the nurse that inspired Francis Bacon to paint multiple paintings involving contorted, screaming mouths.

While many artists aim to create pieces that are delicate and beautiful, others prefer to depict human suffering. Bacon was clearly one of the latter groups. His paintings of distorted, contorted humans, whether they were being crucified or screaming at unknown terrors, may not be the most pleasant to look at, but they certainly evoke a deep emotional reaction.