This is part of an interview with Francis Bacon by Davis Sylvester, from "Interviews With Francis Bacon" by Davis Sylvester FB I think I tend to destroy the better paintings, or those that have been better to a certain extent. I try and take them further, and they lose all their qualities, and they lose everything. I think I would say that I tend to destroy all the better paintings. DS Can you never get it back once it’s gone over the top? FB Not now, and less and less. As the way I work is totally, now, accidental, and becomes more and more accidental, and doesn’t seem to behave, as it were, unless it is accidental, how can I recreate an accident? It’s almost an impossible thing to do. DS But you might get another accident on the same canvas. FB One might get another accident, bit it would never be quite the same. This is the thing that can probably happen only in oil paint, because it is so subtle that one tone, one piece of paint, that moves one thing into