Germany
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Lucian Freud
Berlin, Germany
Archival Overview
British painter born in Germany, grandson of Sigmund Freud, widely acclaimed as one of the greatest figurative artists of the 20th century for his unsparing, intensely physical nudes and portraits.
Biographical Record
Lucian Michael Freud moved with his Jewish family to London in 1933 to escape Nazism, becoming a British citizen in 1939. Associated early on with the 'School of London' alongside Francis Bacon, his early works featured sharp, precisionist realism.
In the late 1950s, Freud switched from fine sable brushes to heavy hogs-hair brushes, developing an impasto technique of incredible sculptural density. Demanding hundreds of hours of intense posing from his sitters—from friends and family to Queen Elizabeth II and Leigh Bowery—his portraits dissected flesh and vulnerability with unmatched emotional truth.
Key Life Milestones
Whitechapel and Met Retrospectives
Celebrated with landmark retrospective exhibitions at the Whitechapel Gallery and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
Record Auction for Benefits Supervisor Sleeping
His monumental nude portrait sold for $33.6 million, setting an all-time record for a work by a living artist.
Memorial Guestbook & Tributes
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Final Resting Place
Perpetual MemorialLondon, United Kingdom