Lucien Freud Unseen

Small exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery to mark the donation of the Lucien Freud archive to the gallery.

It’s fascinating to start to see where donations in lieu of tax from the Freud estate are appearing with the current National Gallery show being based on a donation and to think about how these might change and develop collections.

This show included an unfinished painting, sketches, letters and childhood drawings. The donation includes 47 sketchbooks which contain everyday notes as well as sketches such as betting tips and phone numbers. They give a real sense of working sketch books as a place to jot and develop ideas as you live not as a sterile standalone thing.

The unfinished self-portrait is fascinating as you can see the artists method of working out from the centre of the work. In this case most of the face is there but not the chin. The areas that are done are very complete. It feels like an everything or nothing approach.

Closes 6 September 2016.

 

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