The series marks Bacon 's first attempt at depicting lone figures in rooms . For him , the key aspect was that it appeared that the subject felt isolated , unobserved , and had abandoned the need to present an outward face . He believed that under these circumstances all pretence falls away , and the social being becomes the sum of its neuroses , which Bacon attempted to convey by reducing the subject to its bare @-@ bones features : a mouth , ears , eyes , a jaw . According to Russell , " the view out front ceases to be the only one , and our person is suddenly adrift , fragmented , and subject to strange mutation . " Russell observed that while the depiction of figures in rooms is common through all eras of painting , the figures are always posed , and usually seemingly aware that they are being portrayed . This conceit is abandoned in Bacon 's series .