Lucian Freud


Artist Bio

Freud, Lucian (1922-2011). German-born British painter. He was born in Berlin, a grandson of Sigmund Freud, came to England with his parents in 1931, and acquired British nationality in 1939. His earliest love was drawing, and he began to work full time as an artist after being invalided out of the Merchant Navy in 1942. In 1951 his Interior at Paddington (Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool) won a prize at the Festival of Britain, and since then he has built up a formidable reputation as one of the most powerful contemporary figurative painters. Portraits and nudes are his specialities, often observed in arresting close-up. His early work was meticulously painted, so he has sometimes been described as a “Realist” (or rather absurdly as a Superrealist), but the subjectivity and intensity of his work has always set him apart from the sober tradition characteristic of most British figurative art since the Second World War. In his later work (from the late 1950s) his handling became much broader. (bio)

Lucian Freud on Artnet

Lucian Freud at The Athenaeum




4 responses to “Lucian Freud”

  1. Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by Ithili: RT @escapeintolife: Paintings and Drawings by Lucian Freud http://bit.ly/b2fM2p #art…

  2. […] Freud Was 88 With – The Power Of Paint (some images […]

  3. Lucian Freud, whose stark and revealing paintings of friends and intimates, splayed nude in his studio, recast the art of portraiture and offered a new approach to figurative art, died on Wednesday night  [July 20th 2011] night at his home in London. He was 88.

  4. Sue Goode says:

    I have really admired the  realist painters of the 20th century like Edward Hopper and Lucian Freud. They believed in their own vision even during the  time of the admired Jackson Pollack abstract era.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.