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Freud Has Died

Sad news.  Lucian Freud, one of the greats of British post-war painting, has died, at the age of 88.  I had the pleasure to see him several times as he dined at his table at The Wolseley.  Yesterday, according to The Guardian, that table was draped in a black cloth with a single candle on it.  Freud, whose paintings sold for tens of millions, was famously linked to Sigmund Freud, his grand-father.  I recall studying his work in art history class back at college in Montreal; we were all taken aback by and impressed with his attention to genitals, and to the gross realities of human fleshiness.  Later, in London, I looked into his late self-portrait and recognized in its slashes of dark colours genius, and dark self-reflection.  Genius can be complicated, strange, ugly, and attractive, all at once, in a compelling way; the best art usually is.  I am not sure Freud was a person you'd want to meet unless you were a beautiful woman, or someone to model for him, or a close friend; he emanated a sense of danger.  I am glad to have seen him at a distance; and to have seen his paintings up close.  One of his children, Annie Freud, is one of the best English poets of her generation; my condolences to her and the rest of his family.

Comments

Lucien Freud was the greatest living British artist. He showed people as they really are, in all their beauty and ugliness.
Poetry Pleases! said…
Dear Todd

My artist wife Rusty was a big fan of Lucian Freud. He was, in some ways, Britain's answer to Picasso. Although his children won't be left poor by his passing, it is a sad loss to the art world in general.

Best wishes from Simon
Unknown said…
Amy Winehouse just died, too, apparently. I am not making this up: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jul/23/amy-winehouse-found-dead-27

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