Bio
Lucian Freud, born in 1922 and active until his death in 2011, is one of the most influential painters of the 20th century. Known for his raw depictions of the human body, Freud dedicated his career to exploring the complexities of flesh, presence, and psychological intensity.
Early on, his work flirted with surrealism and expressionism, but by the 1950s he had carved out a distinctive style rooted in realism – often intimate and emotionally charged. His subjects were almost always people he knew personally: friends, family, lovers. These weren’t just portraits, they were unflinching studies of vulnerability, time and the strange relationship between artist and sitter.
Freud famously painted from life, requiring his models to sit for hours, sometimes over months. The resulting works, thick with paint and tension, capture not just appearance, but a psychological truth that feels both unsettling and absorbing at once.
Images © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2025 / Bridgeman Images / David Dawson / John Riddy
