Hubbry Logo
Lucian FreudLucian FreudMain
Open search
Lucian Freud
Community hub
Lucian Freud
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Lucian Michael Freud OM CH[1] (/frɔɪd/; 8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a British painter and draughtsman, specialising in figurative art, who is known as one of the foremost 20th-century English portraitists.

Key Information

His early career as a painter was influenced by surrealism, and afterwards by expressionism, but by the early 1950s his often stark and alienated paintings tended towards realism.[2] Freud was an intensely private and guarded man, and his paintings, completed over a 60-year career, are mostly of friends and family. They are generally sombre and thickly impastoed, often set in unsettling interiors and urban landscapes. The works are noted for their psychological penetration and often discomfiting examination of the relationship between artist and model. Freud worked from life studies and was known for asking for extended and punishing sittings from his models.[3]

Early life and family

[edit]

Born in Berlin (then part of the Weimar Republic) on 8 December 1922, Freud got the name "Lucian" from his mother in commemoration of the ancient writer Lucian of Samosata. Freud was the son of a German Jewish mother, Lucie (née Brasch), and an Austrian Jewish father, Ernst L. Freud, an architect who was the fourth child of Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud.[4] Lucian, the second of their three boys, was the elder brother of the broadcaster, writer and politician Clement Freud (thus uncle of Emma and Matthew Freud) and the younger brother of Stephan Gabriel Freud.

The family emigrated to St John's Wood, London, in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism. Lucian became a British subject in 1939,[4][5] having attended Dartington Hall School in Totnes, Devon, and later Bryanston School,[6][7] for a year before being expelled owing to disruptive behaviour.[8]

Early career

[edit]

Freud briefly studied at the Central School of Art in London, and from 1939 to 1942 with greater success at Cedric Morris' East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, relocated in 1940 to Benton End, a house near Hadleigh, Suffolk. He also attended Goldsmiths' College, part of the University of London, in 1942–43. He served as a merchant seaman in an Atlantic convoy in 1941 before being invalided out of the service in 1942. Because of his poor physical condition he avoided conscription, unlike his brothers.[9]

In 1943, the poet and editor Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu commissioned Freud to illustrate Nicholas Moore's poetry collection The Glass Tower. It was published in 1944 by Editions Poetry London and comprised, among other drawings, a stuffed zebra and a palm tree. Both subjects reappeared in The Painter's Room on display at Freud's first solo exhibition in 1944 at the Lefevre Gallery. In the summer of 1946, he travelled to Paris before continuing to Greece for several months to visit John Craxton.[10] In the early 1950s he frequently visited Dublin, where he would share Patrick Swift's studio.[11] He remained a Londoner for the rest of his life.

Freud was one of a number of figurative artists whom artist R. B. Kitaj later called the "School of London".[12][13] This group was a loose collection of artists who knew each other, some intimately, and worked in London at the same time in the figurative style. The group was active contemporaneously with the boom years of abstract painting and in contrast to abstract expressionism. Major figures in the group included Freud, Kitaj, Francis Bacon, Frank Auerbach, Michael Andrews, Leon Kossoff, Robert Colquhoun, Robert MacBryde, and Reginald Gray. Freud was a visiting tutor at the Slade School of Fine Art of University College London from 1949 to 1954.

Mature style

[edit]
Girl with a White Dog, 1951–1952, Tate Gallery. Portrait of Freud's first wife, Kitty Garman, the daughter of Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman
138 Kensington Church Street (left). This was Freud's residence and studio from the late 1970s until his death.

Freud's early paintings, which are mostly very small, are often associated with German expressionism (an influence he tended to deny) and surrealism in depicting people, plants and animals in unusual juxtapositions. Some very early works anticipate the varied flesh tones of his mature style, for example Cedric Morris (1940, National Museum of Wales), but after the end of the war he developed a thinly painted very precise linear style with muted colours, best known in his self-portrait Man with a Thistle (1946, Tate)[14] and a series of large-eyed portraits of his first wife, Kitty Garman, such as Girl with a Kitten (1947, Tate).[15] These were painted with tiny sable brushes and evoke Early Netherlandish painting.[14]

In the 1950s, Freud began to focus on portraiture, often nudes (though his first full-length nude was not painted until 1966),[16] to the almost complete exclusion of everything else, and by the middle of the decade he developed a much freer style using large hog's-hair brushes, concentrating on the texture and colour of flesh, and much thicker paint, including impasto. Girl with a White Dog (1951–52, Tate) is an example of a transitional work in this process, sharing many characteristics with paintings before and after it, with relatively tight brushwork and a middling size and viewpoint. Freud often cleaned his brush after each stroke when painting flesh, so that the colour remained constantly variable. He also started to paint standing up, which continued until old age, when he switched to a high chair.[16] The colours of non-flesh areas in these paintings are typically muted while the flesh becomes increasingly highly and variably coloured. By about 1960, Freud had established the style that he used, with some changes, for the rest of his career. The later portraits often use an over life-size scale, but are of mostly relatively small heads or in half-lengths. Later portraits are often much larger. In his late career he often followed a portrait with an etching of the subject in a different pose, drawing directly onto the plate, with the sitter in his view.[17]

Freud's portraits often depict only the sitter, sometimes sprawled naked on the floor or on a bed or alternatively juxtaposed with something else, as in Girl With a White Dog and Naked Man With Rat (1977–78).[18] According to Edward Chaney, "The distinctive, recumbent manner in which Freud poses so many of his sitters suggests the conscious or unconscious influence both of his grandfather's psychoanalytical couch and of the Egyptian mummy, his dreaming figures, clothed or nude, staring into space until (if ever) brought back to health and/or consciousness. The particular application of this supine pose to freaks, friends, wives, mistresses, dogs, daughters and mother alike (the last frequently depicted after her suicide attempt and, eventually, literally mummy-like in death), tends to support this hypothesis."[19]

The use of animals in his compositions is widespread, and often he features a pet and its owner. Other examples of portraits with both animals and people in Freud's work include Guy and Speck (1980–81), Eli and David (2005–06) and Double Portrait (1985–86).[20] He had a special passion for horses, having enjoyed riding at school in Dartington, where he sometimes slept in the stables.[21] His portraits solely of horses include Grey Gelding (2003), Skewbald Mare (2004), and Mare Eating Hay (2006). Wilting houseplants feature prominently in some portraits, especially in the 1960s, and Freud also produced a number of paintings purely of plants.[22] Other regular features included mattresses in earlier works, and huge piles of the linen rags he used to clean his brushes in later ones.[23] Some portraits, especially in the 1980s, have very carefully painted views of London roofscapes seen through the studio windows.[24]

Freud's subjects, who needed to make a very large and uncertain commitment of their time, were often the people in his life; friends, family, fellow painters, lovers, children. He said, "The subject matter is autobiographical. It's all to do with hope and memory and sensuality and involvement, really."[25] But the titles were mostly anonymous and the sitter's identity not always disclosed; the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire had a portrait of one of Freud's daughters as a baby for several years before he mentioned who the model was. In the 1970s, Freud spent 4,000 hours on a series of paintings of his mother, of which art historian Lawrence Gowing wrote, "it is more than 300 years since a painter showed as directly and as visually his relationship with his mother. And that was Rembrandt."[26]

Freud painted from life and usually spent a great deal of time with each subject, demanding the model's presence even while working on the background of the portrait. Ria, Naked Portrait 2007 required 16 months of work, with the model, Ria Kirby, posing all but four evenings during that time. With each session averaging five hours, the painting took approximately 2,400 hours to complete.[27] A rapport with his models was necessary, and while at work, Freud was reportedly "an outstanding raconteur and mimic".[27] Of the difficulty in deciding when a painting is completed, Freud said that "he feels he's finished when he gets the impression he's working on somebody else's painting".[27] Paintings were divided into day paintings, done in natural light, and night paintings, done under artificial light, and the sessions and lighting were never mixed.[28]

Freud began a painting by first drawing in charcoal. He then applied paint to a small area of the canvas, and gradually worked outward from that point. For a new sitter, he often started with the head as a means of "getting to know" the person, then painted the rest of the figure, eventually returning to the head as his comprehension of the model deepened.[27] A section of canvas was intentionally left bare until the painting was finished.[27] The finished painting is an accumulation of richly worked layers of pigment and months of intense observation.[27]

Later career

[edit]
Benefits Supervisor Sleeping, 1995, a very large portrait of "Big Sue" Tilley, showing his handling of flesh tones, and a typical high viewpoint

Freud painted fellow artists, including Frank Auerbach and Francis Bacon, and many portraits of the performance artist Leigh Bowery. He also painted Henrietta Moraes, a muse to many Soho artists. A series of huge nude portraits from the mid-1990s depict Sue Tilley, or "Big Sue", some using her job title of "Benefits Supervisor" in the titles,[29] such as Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), which Christie's sold in 2008 for $33.6 million, setting a world record auction price for a living artist.[30][31]

Freud's most consistent model in his later years was his studio assistant and friend David Dawson, the subject of his final, unfinished work.[32] Towards the end of his life he did a nude portrait of model Kate Moss. Freud was one of the best-known British artists working in a representational style, and was shortlisted for the Turner Prize in 1989.[33][34]

After Cézanne, 1999–2000, National Gallery of Australia

His painting After Cézanne, noteworthy because of its unusual shape, was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for $7.4 million. Its top left section has been 'grafted' onto the main section below, and closer inspection reveals a horizontal line where the two sections were joined.[35]

In 1996, the Abbot Hall Art Gallery in Kendal mounted a major exhibition of 27 paintings and 13 etchings, covering Freud's output to date. In 1997, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art presented "Lucian Freud: Early Works", an exhibition of around 30 drawings and paintings done between 1940 and 1945.[36] In 1997, Freud received the Rubens Prize of the city of Siegen.[37] From September 2000 to March 2001, the Museum für Moderne Kunst Frankfurt showed 50 paintings, drawings and etchings from the late 1940s to 2000 in a larger overview exhibition despite Freud's considerable resentment of Germany.[38] All print media bore the motif of Freud's Sleeping by the Lion Carpet (1995–96), depicting the nude Sue Tilley.[39] In addition to some of his most important nude portraits of women, the 1992 large-format picture Nude with leg up (Leigh Bowery) was shown in Frankfurt. It was removed in the 1993 Metropolitan Museum New York exhibition.[40] The Frankfurt exhibition was realised in a personal dialogue between Freud and curator Rolf Lauter and is the only project Freud authorised in direct cooperation with a German museum.[41] The major retrospective at London's Hayward Gallery in 1988 was the focal point for the BBC Omnibus programme which saw one of the few conversations with Freud ever recorded, with Omnibus director Jake Auerbach.[42] The conversations were made possible by Duncan MacGuigan of Acquavella Galleries New York. This was followed by a large retrospective at Tate Britain in 2002. In 2001, Freud completed a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II. There was criticism of the portrayal in some sections of the British media.[43] In 2005, a retrospective of Freud's work was held at the Museo Correr in Venice scheduled to coincide with the Biennale. In late 2007, a collection of etchings was displayed at the Museum of Modern Art.[44]

Grave of Lucian Freud at Highgate Cemetery

Freud died in London on 20 July 2011 and is buried in Highgate Cemetery. Archbishop Rowan Williams officiated at the private funeral.[45]

Art market

[edit]

In 2008, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), a portrait of civil servant Sue Tilley, sold for $33.6 million, at the time the highest price ever for a work by a living artist. At a Christie's New York auction in 2015, Benefits Supervisor Resting sold for $56.2 million.[46][47] On 13 October 2011, his 1952 Boy's Head, a small portrait of his neighbour Charlie Lumley, reached $4,998,088 at Sotheby's London contemporary art evening auction, making it one of the highlights of the 2011 auction autumn season.[48]

On 10 November 2015, Freud's 2004 painting The Brigadier, a portrait of Andrew Parker Bowles in his British Army uniform, sold for $34.89 million at Christie's, beating the $30 million presale estimate.[49]

Personal life

[edit]

In the 1940s, Freud and fellow artists Adrian Ryan and John Minton were in a homosexual love triangle.[50] After an affair with Lorna Garman, in 1948 Freud married her niece Kitty Garman, the illegitimate daughter of sculptor Jacob Epstein and socialite Kathleen Garman.[51][52] They had two daughters, Annabel Freud and the poet Annie Freud, before their marriage ended in 1952.[53] Kitty Freud, later known as Kitty Godley (after her marriage in 1955 to economist Wynne Godley), died in 2011.[54]

In late 1952, Freud eloped with Guinness heiress and writer Lady Caroline Blackwood to Paris, where they married in 1953; they divorced in 1959.[53] During the late 1970s and '80s, Freud was in a relationship with painter Celia Paul.[55] Freud acknowledged 14 children, two from his first marriage and 12 by mistresses.[56] Writer Esther Freud and fashion designer Bella Freud are his daughters by Bernadine Coverley.[57]

From the 1970s until his death, Freud's home and studio was at 138 Kensington Church Street in Kensington, London, a house built in 1736–37. The building has been Grade II listed since 1984.[58] Freud was noted for his aversion to being photographed; he once kicked a photographer upon his departure from a private dinner.[59]

Selected solo exhibitions

[edit]
Curator Rolf Lauter giving a talk in front of Sleeping by the Lion Carpet at the 2000 exhibition in Frankfurt.

References

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Lucian Freud

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
Lucian Michael Freud (8 December 1922 – 20 July 2011) was a German-born British painter and draughtsman renowned for his intense, psychological , particularly portraits and nudes that emphasized the raw physicality and emotional complexity of his subjects. Born in to a Jewish family, he was the grandson of psychoanalyst and emigrated with his family to in 1933 to escape the rise of . Freud's work evolved from early surrealist-influenced drawings to later impasto-heavy oil paintings, often depicting friends, family, and lovers over extended sittings that could last years, redefining modern portraiture through meticulous observation and autobiographical intimacy. Freud received his early artistic training at the Central School of Art in and later at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing under , though he was largely self-taught and resisted formal academic constraints. His first solo exhibition took place in at the Lefevre Gallery, featuring works like The Painter's Room, marking the beginning of a prolific career that spanned over seven decades and included numerous portraits. Throughout his life, Freud lived and worked primarily in , maintaining studios in and , where he painted notable sitters such as Queen Elizabeth II, , and , often in uncompromising nude poses that challenged conventions of beauty and vulnerability. A major retrospective of Freud's oeuvre at in 2002 showcased over 140 works from six decades, affirming his status as one of the 20th century's leading figurative artists and highlighting his shift toward increasingly textured, flesh-like depictions achieved with hog's hair brushes and heavy paint application. He was appointed Companion of the Order of Honour in 1983 and Member of the in 1993. He fathered 14 children from multiple relationships, several of whom became subjects in his paintings, and his personal life was marked by a reclusive intensity that mirrored the probing gaze of his art. Freud's legacy endures in his influence on contemporary figurative painters, with his commitment to realism and psychological depth continuing to provoke and captivate audiences worldwide, as evidenced by recent exhibitions such as the V&A's "Lucian Freud's Etchings" (2024–2025) and the National Portrait Gallery's "Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting" (2026).

Early Life

Family Background

Lucian Freud was born on 8 December 1922 in , , to Jewish parents , an architect and the youngest son of psychoanalyst , and Lucie Brasch, daughter of a wealthy merchant from a prosperous family. The home in was an intellectually stimulating environment shaped by the Freud legacy, with Ernst's architectural practice and Lucie's liberal, Weimar-era upbringing fostering a household rich in cultural and psychological discussions. Freud was the youngest of three brothers, with older siblings Stephen Gabriel Freud, who later became a businessman, and , a , broadcaster, and ; dynamics were marked by tension, including Lucie's favoritism toward Lucian, which contributed to lifelong animosity between him and Clement. As part of a prominent Jewish lineage, the faced rising in 1930s , influencing their decision to emigrate in 1933. The household's emphasis on education and culture provided young with early exposure to , including visits to Berlin's museums where he encountered Old Masters and developed an initial interest in , evident in his childhood sketches from the period.

Childhood and Emigration

Lucian Freud was born on December 8, 1922, in , , into a Jewish family of considerable intellectual and professional standing. He spent his early years in the city's Tiergarten district, with summers often divided between the island of and his maternal grandfather's estate near . From a very young age, Freud displayed a precocious interest in , beginning as early as four years old when he would create sketches for his mother's friends. His childhood artwork frequently featured animals, as evidenced by a crayon he made at age eight depicting a and a , which he presented to his father on a with a personal note in German. This early fascination with animals persisted in his later oeuvre, though it originated in these formative experiences. Additionally, Freud was described by his father as an unruly child, behaving like "a ," and he produced over 160 annotated drawings before leaving , all meticulously preserved by his mother. The rise of the Nazi regime in profoundly disrupted the Freud family's life, prompting their decision to emigrate amid growing antisemitic persecution. Although not fleeing as destitute refugees, the family—forewarned by their circumstances and resources—chose voluntary exile to safeguard their future, departing when Lucian was ten years old. This move was part of a broader exodus of Jewish intellectuals and professionals from as Hitler's policies intensified. The family's departure was timely, as extended relatives later suffered greatly under Nazi rule, including four great-aunts who perished in concentration camps. Upon arriving in in 1933, the Freuds settled in the neighborhood, seeking stability in the . Lucian became a naturalized in 1939, just before the outbreak of , formalizing the family's integration into British society. The transition presented initial challenges, including language barriers, as Freud initially spoke German and retained a slight accent in English for the rest of his life. This cultural shift from the vibrant, cosmopolitan to the more reserved English environment marked a pivotal disruption in his youth, though he later reflected on the relocation as "linked to my luck," viewing as a place he preferred above all others.

Education and Early Career

Formal Training

Lucian Freud's formal art education commenced in 1938 when he enrolled at the Central School of Arts and Crafts in , attending for approximately one term before the onset of disrupted his studies. There, at the age of 16, he gained initial exposure to artistic techniques, including and , though his time was brief and marked by his independent streak. During this period, Freud's work was influenced by the broader art scene, where contemporaries like were gaining prominence for their etched and drawn works, though Freud did not study directly under him. Following his short stay at the Central School, Freud transferred to the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in , in 1939, remaining until 1942 under the direction of , who emphasized direct observation and figurative painting from life. This unconventional, rural-based institution reinforced Freud's commitment to representational art, contrasting with the rising tide of in contemporary British art; Freud explicitly rejected abstract trends, stating that his interest lay in working from people and tangible subjects rather than non-figurative forms. At the East Anglian School, he honed skills in drawing from nature and the human figure, laying foundational techniques that would define his approach. In the early 1940s, Freud enrolled part-time at Goldsmiths' College, University of London, from 1942 to 1943, where the curriculum continued to emphasize figurative traditions amid wartime constraints. This period overlapped with his service in the British Merchant Navy, limiting his attendance, but it allowed him to deepen his understanding of anatomical drawing through life studies and portraiture classes. Concurrently, Freud began early experiments with around 1940–1944, producing small-scale prints that explored line and form in a meticulous, observational style, often depicting friends, family, and urban scenes; these works, such as his 1944 series of portraits, demonstrated his preference for intricate detail over the looser abstractions popular at the time. Freud's training across these institutions was fragmented by the war and his restless nature, yet it solidified his rejection of modernist abstraction in favor of a rigorous, truth-seeking figurative practice rooted in direct perception. His education remained largely self-directed within these formative environments.

Initial Works and Influences

Lucian Freud's early professional career in the 1940s was marked by a distinct surrealist phase, characterized by dreamlike compositions and meticulous, linear rendering of forms. One of his seminal works from this period, The Painter's Room (1944), an oil on canvas depicting a cluttered interior with a bizarre red creature emerging from a window, exemplifies this style through its uncanny juxtaposition of everyday objects and fantastical elements. Created when Freud was just 22, the painting reflects his engagement with the subconscious and the irrational, drawing on the post-war atmosphere of uncertainty in London. Freud's initial aesthetic was profoundly shaped by , particularly the metaphysical paintings of , whose empty urban plazas and enigmatic shadows influenced Freud's precise delineations and sense of estrangement in interiors. He also drew from German expressionism, notably Max Beckmann's angular figures and psychological intensity, which informed the spiky, lineated quality of his early portraits and still lifes. Contemporaries like , whom Freud met in 1944 through London's bohemian circles, further enriched his approach; their immediate friendship fostered mutual exchanges, with Bacon's raw emotionalism subtly impacting Freud's evolving interest in human vulnerability. Freud's first solo exhibition took place in at the Lefevre Gallery in , showcasing around a dozen works including The Painter's Room and early portraits, which garnered positive attention from critics for their technical precision and imaginative flair. The show, held amid wartime rationing that limited materials, established Freud as a promising young talent in the British art scene, with reviewers praising his departure from academic norms toward a more introspective vision. This reception helped secure his position among figurative painters, though sales were modest due to the economic climate. By the late , Freud began transitioning from his initial linear, precise style—rooted in surrealist detachment—to a greater emphasis on psychological depth, incorporating looser brushwork and heightened emotional tension in his depictions of figures and spaces. This shift, evident in works like Woman with a Daffodil (1945), marked the onset of his move toward expressionist influences and laid the groundwork for his later realism, while retaining an undercurrent of unease from his surrealist beginnings.

Artistic Development

Mature Period

In the 1950s, Lucian Freud's style began to evolve from his earlier linear precision toward a more painterly approach, marked by the adoption of thicker brushstrokes and an emphasis on flesh-toned palettes that captured the texture and of his subjects. Works like Girl with Roses (1947–1948), depicting his first wife Kitty Garman with a bouquet, initially featured smoother, more delicate applications of paint but influenced his later consolidation of techniques in the following decade, where layered earth tones conveyed the weight and vulnerability of human forms. This shift was further evident in portraits such as Girl with a (1947), where the intense gaze of the sitter—again Garman—foreshadowed Freud's deepening focus on psychological tension, extending its influence into his mid-career examinations of among family and friends. By the early 1950s, Freud's mature style solidified in key interiors and portraits that highlighted interpersonal dynamics and isolation. Interior in Paddington (1951), a double portrait of artist Harry Diamond seated awkwardly in a sparsely furnished room, exemplifies this phase with its stark lighting and meticulous detail on fabric textures, earning Freud an Arts Council prize at the Festival of Britain and signaling his growing reputation for unflinching realism. Similarly, Hotel Bedroom (1954), painted during a trip to Paris with his second wife Caroline Blackwood, portrays Freud himself standing rigidly beside her recumbent figure on a bed, using high viewpoints and subtle color shifts to evoke marital strain and introspection; this work represented Britain at the Venice Biennale that year, garnering international acclaim. In the 1960s, Freud transitioned to hog-hair brushes, intensifying the impasto to build voluminous, fleshy surfaces in portraits of intimates, prioritizing prolonged sittings that captured raw psychological depth over idealization. Freud's association with the School of London, a loose collective of figurative painters including Francis Bacon and R.B. Kitaj, underscored his mid-century commitment to human-centered realism amid abstract dominance. Coined by Kitaj in 1976, the group—active through the 1980s—gathered at London's Colony Room, where Freud's daily exchanges with peers reinforced his focus on autobiographical and emotionally charged subjects. His inclusion in exhibitions like The Human Clay (Hayward Gallery, 1976) and A New Spirit in Painting (Royal Academy, 1981) highlighted this consolidation, positioning Freud as a pivotal figure in postwar British art's revival of portraiture with visceral intensity.

Later Works

In the 1990s and into the , Lucian Freud shifted toward even larger canvases that demanded prolonged sittings from his models, allowing for deeper psychological and physical scrutiny. This evolution is evident in works like Ria, Naked Portrait (2006–2007), an expansive oil-on-canvas composition measuring 87 x 163 cm, which portrays art handler Kirby in a reclining nude pose. Painted over 18 months while Freud was in his mid-80s, the piece captures the model's form with intense scrutiny, emphasizing the weight and texture of flesh through layered brushwork. The monumental scale and extended sessions built on earlier experiments, such as Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) (1981–1983), a 185.4 x 198.1 cm group portrait of figures in his studio inspired by Jean-Antoine Watteau's Pierrot Content, where refinements over two years highlighted interpersonal dynamics in confined spaces. Freud's later output increasingly featured elderly subjects and introspective self-portraits, reflecting his own advancing age and unflinching gaze on mortality. In Self-Portrait (Reflection) (2002), an oil-on-canvas work measuring 66 x 50.8 cm, Freud depicts himself in a mirror, his lined face and balding head rendered with heavy that conveys the sagging skin and introspective intensity of his 80th year. This painting, part of a series of late self-examinations, underscores his focus on aged bodies as sites of raw vulnerability, often using older sitters like his longtime friend and assistant David Dawson to explore themes of endurance and decay. Freud's final paintings, produced in 2011 just before his on July 20, include several unfinished pieces that reveal his unrelenting . Among them is Portrait of (2011), an sketch depicting Dawson posing nude alongside his Eli on a studio floor, left incomplete after Freud's last session on July 3. These late efforts demonstrate his persistence with the figure, even as health declined. Concurrently, Freud adapted his meticulous techniques to broader compositions, incorporating landscapes and plant studies that expanded beyond the human form; Garden from the Window (2002), for instance, portrays a section of his overgrown garden with buddleia branches in dappled light, treating foliage with the same textured precision as skin. His foundational method enabled these natural elements to emerge with palpable volume and transience.

Artistic Style and Techniques

Portraiture

Lucian Freud's portraiture evolved significantly over his career, beginning with small-scale works that emphasized intricate detail and psychological nuance in the mid-20th century, such as his early depictions using fine brushes for precise rendering. By the and into his mature period, he transitioned to larger, more monumental formats, employing coarser hog-hair brushes to build substantial layers of paint, which amplified the physical and emotional presence of his subjects. This shift allowed for a deeper exploration of the human form, transforming intimate head studies into expansive meditations on identity and . Central to Freud's approach was the use of prolonged sittings, often lasting months, to achieve psychological depth and capture the sitter's evolving state during the process. For instance, Martin Gayford endured 40 sessions over seven months for his 2004 , Man with a Blue Scarf, during which Freud observed subtle changes in expression and posture to convey inner complexity. Similarly, sat for approximately 120 hours across four months in 2002, enabling Freud to layer observations that revealed the subject's vitality and vulnerability. These extended sessions, sometimes extending to 16 months in demanding cases, fostered a raw authenticity, as Freud worked exclusively from life without preparatory sketches. Freud applied thick with hog-bristle brushes and palette knives to render the textured realities of skin and hair, creating a sculptural quality that emphasized tactile presence over idealization. This technique is exemplified in his 2001 portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, a small 9-by-6-inch executed in heavy that depicted the monarch's lined face and pursed lips with unflinching detail, sparking controversy for its perceived harshness and departure from regal flattery. Thematically, Freud's portraits prioritized vulnerability and stark realism, stripping away vanity to expose the human condition—frailties, imperfections, and emotional rawness—often portraying even prominent figures in states of unguarded . In his later portraits, such as those from the , this intensity culminated in even more probing examinations of the psyche.

Nudes and Figures

Lucian Freud's depictions of the nude body marked a profound evolution in his oeuvre, shifting from earlier, more contained figures to expansive, unflinching explorations of human form that prioritized anatomical truth over aesthetic idealization. In works such as the "Naked Portrait" series, Freud captured the raw physicality of his subjects, rendering , fat, and muscle with a visceral intensity that emphasized the body's weight and natural imperfections, transforming perceived flaws into revelations of vitality. For instance, in Naked Portrait (1990) featuring performance artist , Freud portrayed the model's corpulent form sprawled across a , highlighting sagging flesh and textured to convey a sense of monumental presence rather than erotic allure. Freud often integrated elements from his studio environment to ground the figures in a tangible, lived context, using beds, rumpled sheets, and potted plants as compositional anchors that enhanced the intimacy and spatial depth of the scenes. These inclusions, such as the wilting greenery in Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), not only framed the subject's repose but also underscored themes of transience and domestic reality, allowing the nude to emerge as part of a broader narrative space. This approach contrasted with more isolated figure studies, embedding the body within a cluttered, personal milieu that mirrored the prolonged sessions—often spanning months or years—required to achieve such detail. A pivotal technical development in Freud's nudes occurred in the and , when he transitioned from and thin oils to working predominantly in , applying paint in heavy, layers to achieve a sculptural three-dimensionality. Using hog's hair brushes and sometimes palette knives, he built up the surface with dense, clotted accumulations that mimicked the tactile quality of , as seen in the protruding dabs and scumbled textures of Ria, Naked Portrait (2006–07), where the paint itself seemed to pulse with life. This laborious method, involving multiple sittings and revisions, allowed Freud to convey the mass and volume of the body, making the canvas a site of physical encounter rather than mere representation. Freud's choice of subjects for his nudes demonstrated a commitment to diversity across , age, and physicality, including both men and women from varied backgrounds, as well as pregnant models that highlighted the body's transformative states. Notable examples include Pregnant Girl (1961), depicting his then-partner Bernardine Coverley heavy with child, and Eight Months Gone (1990), a stark portrayal of model in late pregnancy, both underscoring the swollen contours and vulnerability of impending motherhood without sentimentality. Male figures like brought additional breadth, with their exaggerated forms challenging conventional notions of beauty and inviting contemplation of the nude as a universal, imperfect vessel. Through this inclusive lens, Freud's figures transcended individual identity to embody the broader .

Personal Life

Relationships and Family

Lucian Freud's first marriage was to Kathleen "Kitty" Garman, daughter of sculptor , in 1948, when she was heavily pregnant with their first child. The couple had two daughters: Annie, born in 1948, and Annabel, born in 1952, though the marriage ended in separation by 1952 amid reports of and domestic tensions. In 1953, Freud married Lady Caroline Maureen Blackwood, a young heiress and , in a union that lasted until their divorce in 1959; the marriage produced no children but was marked by intense passion and eventual strain from Freud's lifestyle. Following this, Freud entered several long-term romantic partnerships that resulted in the majority of his acknowledged offspring. Freud had a significant relationship with painter Suzy Boyt, whom he met through artistic circles, beginning in the early 1950s; together they had four children—Alexander (also known as Ali), , Isobel, and Susie—born between the mid-1950s and late 1960s. He also fathered two daughters, and , with Bernadine Coverley in the early 1960s, during a period when Freud was involved with multiple partners simultaneously. Additionally, his partnership with Katherine McAdam in the late 1950s and 1960s produced four children: Paul, Lucy, David, and Jane McAdam Freud. From 1978 to 1988, Freud maintained a relationship with fellow painter Celia Paul, with whom he had a son, Frank, born in 1984; Paul continued to model for him during her pregnancy and afterward. In total, Freud acknowledged 14 children across these relationships, though rumors suggested a higher number. Freud's family dynamics were notably complex and often distant; while he provided financial support and later developed closer ties with some adult children—such as assisting with her fashion endeavors in the —he was not a hands-on father and maintained limited contact with others, including the McAdam children after their early years. This detachment extended to viewing interactions primarily through the lens of his , where many of his children eventually sat as subjects, though emotional bonds remained secondary to his creative process.

Daily Life and Habits

Lucian Freud maintained his primary residence and studio at 138 Kensington Church Street in London's from the late 1980s until his death, a space that served as both living quarters and workspace in a historic 18th-century . The studio was notoriously cluttered and paint-encrusted, filled with personal artifacts, strewn materials, and layers of dried paint where tools like remained wedged in place, creating an immersive environment that mirrored his intense, accumulative approach to . This setup fostered a reclusive lifestyle, where Freud controlled his surroundings meticulously, rarely allowing outsiders beyond trusted assistants and models. Freud's daily routines revolved around a nocturnal working schedule, often painting late into the night under artificial light, which demanded that his sitters—friends, , or acquaintances—adopt similarly irregular hours, sometimes enduring sessions of several hours multiple nights a week for months. He was a habitual chain-smoker, a vice that contributed to his health decline, and he avoided publicity assiduously, compartmentalizing relationships and declining most media engagements to preserve his . These habits were intertwined with his love of , particularly at and tracks, where he bet heavily on horses—a lifelong passion stemming from his youth—and occasionally settled debts with paintings rather than cash, viewing the thrill of risk as a to his creativity. Freud died on 20 July 2011 at his home in at the age of 88, following a brief illness.

Legacy

Art Market

Lucian Freud's works have achieved significant commercial success in the market, particularly for his large-scale nudes and portraits, reflecting their status as cornerstones of postwar British art. The artist's record price was set by Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) (1981–1983), which sold for £75.8 million ($86.3 million) at New York in November 2022, surpassing previous benchmarks and highlighting the premium placed on his mature interior compositions featuring multiple figures. Posthumous sales have continued to underscore Freud's enduring market strength. In 2015, Benefits Supervisor Resting (1994), a monumental nude portrait of model Sue Tilley, fetched $56.2 million at New York, establishing a then-record for a contemporary female nude at and affirming the high demand for Freud's unflinching depictions of the . More recently, in October 2025, Self-portrait Fragment (c. 1956) realized £7.6 million at London, falling short of its £8–12 million estimate and demonstrating sustained interest in Freud's introspective self-portraits, which rarely appear on the market. That same sale included three early paintings from a single —Woman with a (1944), Self-portrait Fragment (c. 1956), and Sleeping Head (1961)—with a combined presale estimate of approximately £20 million, though only two ultimately sold, totaling around £10 million including fees. The broader market for Freud's oeuvre shows robust growth, with over 3,400 auction results recorded to date, predominantly for paintings and works on paper. Average prices for nudes and portraits have risen steadily since 2020, driven by factors such as the rarity of available works—many remaining in institutional or long-term private holdings—and impeccable from esteemed collections, which enhance perceived authenticity and investment appeal. For instance, sales data indicate annualized returns of up to 13% for select pieces resurfacing after decades, with nudes often commanding premiums due to their scale and psychological intensity. This trend positions Freud among the top postwar artists by value, with his market resilience evident even amid broader economic fluctuations.

Exhibitions and Recognition

Freud's first solo took place at the Lefevre Gallery in in 1944, showcasing early works such as The Painter's Room, which marked his emergence as a distinctive voice in British figurative art. During his lifetime, Freud received significant curatorial recognition through major that highlighted his evolving style and technical mastery. A pivotal was the 1988 at the in , organized by the Arts Council of Great Britain, which surveyed over four decades of his career and affirmed his status as a leading realist painter. This was followed by the comprehensive 2002 at , which presented over 150 works spanning six decades and was described as the largest ever devoted to a living at the venue, drawing widespread critical praise for its depth and intensity. Following Freud's death in 2011, posthumous exhibitions continued to underscore his enduring impact. The 2012 retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery in focused on his portraiture, featuring over 100 works and emphasizing his psychological depth in depicting sitters. In 2022, the in mounted The Exhibition: Lucian Freud: New Perspectives to mark the centenary of his birth, displaying around 50 paintings that offered fresh insights into his methods and influences, reinforcing his position as one of the 20th century's most innovative figurative artists. In 2025, the National Portrait Gallery acquired 12 works from Freud's estate, including eight etchings, in preparation for a 2026 exhibition titled Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting focusing on his drawing practice. Freud's recognition extended beyond exhibitions to formal honors, though he notably declined a CBE in 1977 and a knighthood, preferring to let his work stand on its artistic merits rather than titles. His exhibitions garnered consistent critical acclaim, with reviewers lauding his unflinching realism and commitment to the human form, influencing subsequent generations of figurative painters in the post-2011 era.

References

  1. https://www.tate.org.uk/press/press-releases/lucian-freud
  2. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/lucian-freud-self-portraits-beginners-guide
  3. https://www.theartstory.org/artist/freud-lucian/
  4. https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/term/BIOG27917
  5. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-lucian-freud/articles/lucian-freud-exhibitions-events-2024-beyond
  6. https://www.npg.org.uk/about/press/national-portrait-gallery-announces-major-lucian-freud-exhibition-for-2026%2C-as-newly-acquired-etching-plates-and-prints-go-on-display-for-the-first-time-today
  7. https://www.freud.org.uk/exhibitions/lucian-freud/
  8. https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/lucian-and-the-birth-of-genius/
  9. https://forward.com/culture/140607/was-there-anything-jewish-about-lucian-freud/
  10. https://www.freud.org.uk/2020/03/10/spotlight-on-the-archives-lucie-freud/
  11. https://www.hamhigh.co.uk/news/20688735.lucian-freud-complex-family-relationships-explored-freud-museum/
  12. https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v41/n19/colm-toibin/falling-in-love-with-lucian
  13. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/celebritynews/11334445/Stephen-Freud-the-forgotten-brother-of-Lucian-and-Clement-dies-aged-93.html
  14. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-13546134
  15. https://www.freud.org.uk/exhibitions/lucian-freud-as-a-child/
  16. https://artillerymag.com/freudian-pleasures/
  17. https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp01684/lucian-freud
  18. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/12/04/magazine/lucian-freud-the-unblinking-eye.html
  19. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/lucian-freud
  20. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/29
  21. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/freud-the-painters-room-t00009
  22. https://www.wikiart.org/en/lucian-freud/the-painter-s-room-1944
  23. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/lucian-freud-1120
  24. http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/famous-artists/lucian-freud.htm
  25. https://www.myartbroker.com/collecting/articles/lucian-freud-and-francis-bacon-turbulent-friendship-artistic-exchange
  26. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/genius-lucian-freud-368807
  27. https://www.studiointernational.com/lucian-freud-the-self-portraits-exhibition-review-royal-academy-of-arts-london
  28. https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2005/contemporary-art-evening-l05022/lot.12.html
  29. https://www.thecollector.com/lucian-freud/
  30. https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/art-design/2022/09/lucian-freuds-pitiless-style
  31. https://www.forumgallery.com/artists/lucian-freud
  32. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/article/lucian-freud-self-portraits-thoughts-on-painting
  33. https://www.theartstory.org/movement/school-of-london/
  34. https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-lucian-freuds-obsession-skin-inspired-powerful-nude-portraits
  35. https://press.christies.com/christies-unveils-late-masterpiece-by-lucian-freud-ria-naked-portrait-offered-at-auction-for-the-first-time
  36. https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-6397125
  37. https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/lucian-freud-self-portraits
  38. https://hyperallergic.com/533247/lucian-freud-the-self-portraits-at-the-royal-academy/
  39. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/sep/20/lucian-freud-national-portrait-gallery
  40. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/668785
  41. https://press.christies.com/lucian-freuds-rare-explorations-of-landscape-to-highlight-20th-21st-century-london-evening-sale-next-month
  42. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-lucian-freud/articles/lucian-freud-techniques
  43. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/sep/26/man-with-blue-scarf-lucian-freud-review
  44. https://www.sothebys.com/en/articles/all-in-the-eyes-lucian-freuds-david-hockney
  45. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/3668104/Lucian-Freud-marathon-man.html
  46. https://www.cnn.com/style/article/queen-elizabeth-art
  47. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/02/08/lucian-freud-and-the-truth-of-the-body
  48. https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-35550976
  49. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jul/22/lucian-freud-painter-interview
  50. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jan/19/kitty-godley-obituary
  51. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2011/jul/21/lucien-lucian-freud-obituary
  52. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/22/arts/lucian-freud-adept-portraiture-artist-dies-at-88.html
  53. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/lucian-freud-real-lives/exhibition-guide
  54. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2012/jan/18/jane-mcadam-freud-lucian-sculpture
  55. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/oct/27/celia-paul-self-portrait-memoir-interview-lucian-freud
  56. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/sep/04/the-lives-of-lucian-freud-by-william-feaver-review-fame-1968-2011
  57. https://archivecatalogue.npg.org.uk/CalmView/Record.aspx?src=CalmView.Catalog&id=LMF
  58. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/lucian-freud-artist-widely-regarded-as-the-finest-painter-of-the-human-form-in-the-second-half-of-the-20th-century-2319087.html
  59. https://www.acquavellagalleries.com/news/the-times
  60. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-lucian-freud/record-prices/lucian-freud-record-prices
  61. https://press.christies.com/highest-total-for-a-frieze-week-evening-sale-for-christies-in-7-years-ps106925400142852334eur122750359
  62. https://www.theartnewspaper.com/2025/09/25/christies-to-sell-three-early-paintings-by-lucian-freud-for-%25C2%25A320m
  63. https://press.christies.com/christies-to-offer-three-major-works-by-lucian-freud-in-its-2021-evening-sale-in-october-2025
  64. https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-guide/lucian-freud/15481/
  65. https://www.artprice.com/artmarketinsight/lucian-freud-still-rising
  66. https://heni.com/news/article/lucian-freud-sleeping-head-2025-10-15-18-30-00-00-00
  67. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-britain/lucian-freud
  68. https://ocula.com/institutions/national-portrait-gallery-london/exhibitions/lucian-freud-drawing-into-painting/
  69. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-16736495
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.