Freud, Lucian

Freud, Lucian (1922- ). 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.

• Interior in Paddington
  1951 (170 Kb); Oil on canvas, 152.4 x 114.3 cm; Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
  
• Girl with a white dog
  1951-52 (140 Kb); Oil on canvas, 76.2 x 101.6 cm; Tate Gallery, London
  
• John Minton
  1952 (130 Kb); Oil on canvas, 40 x 25.4 cm; Collection Royal College of Art, London
  
• Naked girl asleep, II
  1968 (130 Kb); Oil on canvas, 55.8 x 55.8 cm; Private collection
  
• Factory in North London
  1972 (170 Kb); Oil on canvas, 71 x 71 cm; Private collection
  
• Large Interior W.11 (after Watteau)
  1981-83 (150 Kb); Oil on canvas, 186 x 198 cm; Private collection
  
• Reflection (self portrait)
  1985 (150 Kb); Oil on canvas, 56.2 x 51.2 cm; Private collection