Lucian Freud: 1922–2011
Nicola McCartney, Monday, 25th July 2011
At the age of 88, Lucian Freud died on 20 July 2011. It was a sad day marked by many, including his friend, the art critic Martyn Gayford, who gave an intimate recollection of Freud in the Daily Telegraph. He recounts Freud’s musings on mortality and his career: 'I’m not frightened in the slightest of death; I’ve had a lovely time.'
Grandson of Sigmund Freud, Lucian Freud was born on 8 December 1922. He moved to Britain in 1933 to escape the rise of Nazism, where he gained citizenship in 1939. Freud trained at Central School of Art (now Central St Martins of University of the Arts), Cedric Morris' East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham, and Goldsmiths University.
Freud began making surrealist paintings with thin oils but is more famous for his latter work; thickly painted portraits and nudes, including his notable series of the performance artist Leigh Bowery and controversial portrait of the Queen (see above). Whilst most the country agreed it was not the most flattering portrait of HRH Queen Elizabeth II, we cannot argue that it is not honest, if brutal. Freud’s ‘take-no-prisoner’ attitude towards his sitters is a primary reason he is so well respected and considered one of the most perceptive artists in history. Charles Saumarez-Smith, head of the National Portrait Galley, described the picture as 'thought-provoking and psychologically penetrating'.
Freud work is of great commercial value too. In 2008, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), his portrait of an overweight civil servant named Sue, sold for £20.6 million pounds, the highest price ever for a work by a living artist. There is no doubt, then, since the news of his death, the value of his works will further increase.
Freud managed to keep a relatively private life, though his opinions were greatly controversial – he loathed the work of Leonardo da Vinci – and he is rumoured to have fathered up to 40 children with over six women. Freud was also synonymous with the bohemian Soho of the 50s and his equally wild peer, Francis Bacon. Nonetheless, Freud is one of the most significant artists of the last 70 years and almost single-handedly reinvented and revived portraiture in an age when the genre was increasingly considered unpopular. May his work continue to be enjoyed by millions.
Image credit: Portrait of the Queen, Lucian Freud. 2001. The Royal Collection © Lucian Freud
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