Lucian Freud Exhibition Gains Attention

- The exhibition, titled "Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting," is the first showcase of his work at the gallery since a 2012 retrospective that drew a record 246,000 visitors. It will feature 170 drawings and etchings, many rarely seen, to offer insight into his creative process. - A direct link to the fashion world is present through portraits of his daughter, designer Bella Freud, who has also created a wearable art collection to celebrate the exhibition. Lucian Freud himself was a client of the Savile Row tailor Huntsman, who took fittings in his studio. - Freud's technique involved a thick application of paint known as impasto, giving his portraits a visceral, sculptural quality where the paint seems to become flesh. He was known for cleaning his brush after every stroke to maintain the texture and dimension of the colors. - The artist was famously selective about his subjects, primarily painting friends, family, and fellow artists, including Francis Bacon and David Hockney. He was known for requiring punishingly long and extended sittings from his models. - Among his most famous sitters were performance artist Leigh Bowery, whose flamboyant persona contrasted with the raw intimacy of the portraits, and Sue Tilley, the subject of "Benefits Supervisor Sleeping," which set a world record auction price for a living artist in 2008 when it sold for $33.6 million. - In 2001, Freud painted a portrait of Queen Elizabeth II, treating her with the same unsparing, objective honesty as any other sitter, a move that was seen as a bold rejection of flattering royal portraiture. - His early, linear style was influenced by 15th-century Flemish portraiture, while his later, looser brushwork was partly influenced by his friendship with artist Francis Bacon. - After its run at the National Portrait Gallery from February 12 to May 4, 2026, the exhibition will tour to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark.