I’ve always admired Lucien Freud’s work though, I admit, that I’d never have called him kind to his sitters. Until seeing his work in a retrospective at the National Gallery in London, I’d only seen reproductions. I liked the uncompromising vision that he imposed on his figures and the crusty surfaces that even a small photo showed. His work seemed powerful and rather grotesque.
I take it all back! Far from cruel, he was tender with his subjects, studying them with an obsessive attention to their unique gestures and minute colour changes. It reminded me of Renoir’s words: “I look at a nude. There are myriads of tiny tints. I must find the ones that will make the flesh on my canvas live and quiver.” (He also said “I would never have taken up painting if women did not have breasts.” so I take his announcements with an ambivalent heart.)
Freud treated everything to the same intense scrutiny and his canvases show a love of paint, colour, and life - whether the life is a person, a dog, or a houseplant. Noticing every freckle and vein on the faces in his early, delicate portraits, or every colour and plane change in the later, thickly-painted pieces, his canvases show a painter who was endlessly enthralled by the acts of seeing and painting.
I found this relaxed intermingling of human and animal limbs particularly moving.
We’re lucky to be able to see paintings in books and online; without those resources, I’d never even have found Freud’s work. But seeing the paintings in person really drove home the impossibility of passing judgement on painters by looking at reproductions. You have to see the work in life and, preferably, in large quantity to begin to understand what the artist was trying to do. I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to get to know Freud a bit better.
In my previous post, I told you to book a flight to Rome to see some masterpieces in life. If you take that advice, then add a stopover in London to catch the Freud exhibition before it ends on January 23. You’ll be glad you did😁
Happy painting!
Thank you Ingrid for introducing me to Freud’s work. These paintings are compelling and so alive. Unfortunately Scheline and I did not go through London on this trip. and did not have time to visit any galleries while in Rome. Thank you for being so generous in sharing your appreciation of art with us. Take care!
Oh. You are so right Ingrid. I was lucky enough to have seen a previous exhibit. You have to stand in front of his work ,particularly……and all that thick paint and powerful observation. What skills and dedication.