The art world paid tribute to British artist Lucian Freud, a towering figure in the industry for more than 50 years, who died after an illness at the age of 88.
Sir Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate gallery, said: “The vitality of his nudes, the intensity of the still life paintings and the presence of his portraits of family and friends guarantee Lucian Freud a unique place in the pantheon of late 20th century art. His early paintings redefined British art and his later works stand in comparison with the great figurative painters of any period.”
Mr Freud, grandson of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud and the brother of the late television personality Sir Clement Freud, was born in Berlin in 1922. His Jewish family had to flee the city in 1933 and he become a British citizen in 1939. The realist painter was educated at the Central School of Art, London, the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing in Dedham and Goldsmiths College in London. He was noticed for his talent early on in his life and, after a spell in the Merchant Navy in 1942, had his first one-man show in 1944, when he was 21.
His key pieces include Girl With A White Dog, Naked Girl Asleep and Reflection (self portrait), and he was particularly known for his paintings of nudes. Mr Freud’s works have recently etched millions at auction, including one of an overweight nude woman sleeping on a couch that sold in 2008 for £20.6 million. Last month, a portrait entitled Woman Smiling, 1958-59, fetched £4,745,250 when it went under the hammer. The oil on canvas Self-Portrait With A Black Eye, circa 1978, shows Mr Freud, aged almost 60, sporting a swollen left eye, as the result of a row between the artist and a taxi driver, during which Mr Freud was struck in the face. Last year it sold for more than £2.8 million last year.
Suffering for his art, Mr Freud was said to have retreated to his studio rather than seek treatment – using his crumpled, swollen features as the inspiration for the important new work.
Mr Freud was a member of the Order of Merit – one of Britain’s most prestigious chivalry honours.