Lucien Freud Pictures with Titles

Contrary to the obvious opinion, realism in painting in its pure form is very rare and has a history that is not extended in time.

The paintings of Lucien Freud, one of the cult artists of the 20th century, are also difficult to unambiguously attribute to realistic art, although on them a person appears without the slightest adornment, devoid of all illusory coverings ...

Grandson of the founder of psychoanalysis

Lucien's father, Ernst Ludwig Freud, is the youngest son of Sigmund Freud, who made mankind take a fresh look at himself, at the nature of human thoughts, desires and actions. The grandson became a worthy heir to the famous grandfather: paintings by Lucien Freud by means of painting showed new depths of the human universe.

He was born in Vienna in 1922, but when the Nazis came to power in Germany (1933), he moved to the UK with his family. At first, the guy does not feel very comfortable in the new country. Bad English forces him to loneliness, his parents strongly support his desire to paint, and the artist Lucien Freud, whose paintings will cost millions, begins his long journey, which lasted until the end of the first decade of the next century.

Search for yourself

The artist’s first works in many respects corresponded to the spirit of the forties of the last century: he did not give up figurative painting in favor of complete abstraction, but was looking for a new look at the environment. He denied any influence on himself by masters of the past or contemporaries, but some of the paintings by Lucien Freud at the initial stage of creativity are considered surrealistic. This seems understandable - it was precisely the ideas of his grandfather that in many ways became the theoretical basis of the current trend.

Such is the “Artist's Room” (1943-1944) with the head of a zebra literally looking into the creative space of the brush master. But these motives can be considered random: a close, almost optical look, a filigree, accurate and tough “Dürer's” drawing (“A Hare on a Chair”, 1944) and, initially, a smooth and worked out to the smallest detail pictorial manner, similar to the style of proto-renaissance masters, become characteristic of Lucien Northern Renaissance. The first significant portraits appear: “Woman with a Tulip” (1945), “Man's Portrait with a Burdock” (1945), etc.

Main genre

He said that it was always more comfortable for him to communicate with animals ... His animalistic masterpieces are widely known - Foal (1970), Eli (2002), Gray Merin (2003); his still lifes are impressive in technique and content - “A Box of Apples in Wales” (1939), “Still Life with a Book” (1991-1992), but first of all, paintings by Lucien Freud are portraits.

He almost never painted custom or ceremonial portraits, with the exception of the famous image of Queen Elizabeth II (2000-2001), and always painted only those who were interesting to him and whom he knew well. In many ways, it began with the first wife - Kitty Garman, with whom they lived for four years. In her portraits - “A Girl in a Dark Jacket” (1947), “A Girl with a Kitten” (1947), “A Girl with a White Dog” (1952) - the master finds his main theme, but continues to search for a picturesque style.

Francis Bacon. Tactile realism

The only artist Freud could call his mentor was another classic of post-war art - Francis Bacon, who was 15 years older than him. They are exhibited together in the British pavilion at an exhibition in Venice; Freud paints several portraits of him.

It is believed that it was under the influence of Bacon that that particular pictorial manner by which Lucien Freud was recognized was finally formed. His paintings lose their former smoothness, a perfectionist approach to decoration, the characters lose their light stylization and become more weighty, gain flesh and blood, and this flesh is imperfect, it has the most natural and earthly signs, it is physiological, the portrayed ones acquire amazingly written skin and hair, causing almost tactile sensations.

Other beauty

“I write people as they might become,” said Lucian Freud. Pictures of the period of his creative maturity speak of a man in a way that was not accepted before him. The artist has a unique approach to the image of nudity. It is far from academic and classical traditions, goes beyond the Impressionists, ruthlessly showing the momentary weight of the human body, its frailty. For him, the main thing becomes a sense of presence, the reality of a collision with a character. The beauty of proportions and color combinations becomes unimportant, beauty becomes different.

An amazing thing happens: people's faces are almost caricatured distorted, their bodies are far from ancient proportions, their postures are tensely uncomfortable and shameless, nudity evokes weak erotic emotions quenched by overt naturalism - but these portraits do not evoke denial, with each minute the significance of the existence of each person becomes tangible, one can see the artist’s surprise in the harmony of God's creation, even if it takes on unusual forms.

Of course, his art is too extraordinary not to raise waves of quiet misunderstanding and loud rejection. Many moralists are annoyed by paintings signed by the name of Lucian Freud: “Daughters, albeit illegitimate, but their own, only a pervert can show them in this form!” Yes, his art will never be accepted by all, without exception.

Inner circle

He was called the master of the past century. He never wrote on photographs, did not watch movies and television, he always worked from life, carefully and carefully studying every detail, sometimes bringing sitters to complete exhaustion - it is not by chance that there are a lot of sleeping and lying models in his paintings.

One more thing becomes clear even after a brief acquaintance with a phenomenon such as Lucien Freud: the paintings (photos are presented in the article) made in his workshop show a high degree of mutual trust between the artist and the model. It is no coincidence that Freud's best canvases depict his relatives, friends, wives, lovers, children - legal and illegitimate (the total number of which, according to unspecified data, is at least four dozen).

A stunning portrait series by the artist’s mother. After the death of her husband, Lucy Freud attempted suicide, and her son, making her a model for his paintings, tried to give her strength to continue her life, to give her meaning. She lived for almost two decades and remained on graphic sheets and magnificent canvases: “Mother of the artist” (1972), “Portrait in the interior” (1973), “Mother of the artist while relaxing” (1976), etc.

Favorite Models

He called himself a man of habit, he did not become uninteresting man, whom he wrote many times over a long time. Now we are interested in observing how a person is changing, and how the master himself is changing. He had several such models:

1. An artist from the world of fashion and just a freak who died from AIDS is Lee Bowery (1961-1994). A particularly expressive portrait of Lee Bowery 1991, “Naked man, rear view” (1992), “Lee under a daylight lamp” (1994), “Last portrait of Lee” (1995.

2. David Dawson's closest friend and assistant is David, Pluto, and Eli (2001), David and Eli (2003).

3. Susan Tiley. She was brought to Freud by Lee Bowery, about whom she wrote a book. We see her in the paintings "A Woman with a Tattoo on Her Arm" (1996), "Sleeping on a Lion Carpet" (1996). She served as the model for the most expensive painting, which was written by Lucien Freud - “The Social Worker Is Sleeping” (1995). This painting was sold at auction in 1995 for $ 33.6 million unthinkable by a living artist.

The last classic of figurative painting

He left in 2011, nearly 90 years old, having spent most of his life at the easel. The fame and money that did not interest him very much came when he was already at a very advanced age. The last cezannist, the last existentialist, the legend of expressionism - art critics do not like when, in their opinion, there is no corresponding label.

Remained unknown, but made by an artist named Lucien Freud, paintings, and names included in the world history of painting: “Interior in Paddington” (1951), “Reflection with Two Children” (1965), “Large Interior, W11 (based on Watteau ) ”(1981-1983), self-merciless self-portrait of 1993,“ An artist at work. Reflection ”,“ After Cezanne ”(2000), portrait of the artist David Hockney (2002),“ Foreman ”(2003), one of the last self-portraits -“ An artist taken aback by a naked fan ”(2007).

The paradox is one of the signs of a real, extraordinary artist. A great contradiction arouses interest in the paintings of Lucian Freud: he seems to say: "I look from a distance, I'm not interested in the inner world, I want to convey the surface, the shell." But one cannot believe this in the grandson of the creator of psychoanalysis: his paintings are a fascinating conversation, enriching the attentive viewer with knowledge of both a specific personality and the whole universe.