Why is the Family collection so important?

Lucian Freud's etchings of his Family form a career-spanning body of work. They reveal not only the constant evolution of his stylistic approach to portraiture, but also document his closest relationships with his children, partners, and mother. Countless affairs, a lack of communication, and a prioritisation of his art above all else made Freud an unconventional family man. However, the profundity of his Family works lies in the uneasiness and unfamiliarity between sitter and artist. As Vanity Fair's David Kamp acknowledged after Freud's death, "his children generally seemed to accept that sitting for Freud was the way to have a fulfilling relationship with their father." Indeed, it is through these works that Freud seems to penetrate that awkwardness, and truly break down the barriers with those in his bloodline.

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Family by Lucian Freud Background & Meaning

Family

This collection of Lucian Freud prints, Family, is a testimony to his artistic fixation on his relatives. As a distant father to his 14 children, his artistic attentiveness seems ironic, but his reclusive nature partially explains the arrangement. A distinct intensity shines through, particularly given Freud’s famously gruelling treatment of sitters.

Meaning & Analysis

One of the subjects that transfixed Lucian Freud the most throughout his career was his own family. Remembered as being a distant father to his 14 acknowledged children, it might seem ironic that Freud should return to depict them time and time again. However, Freud was always regarded as a "recluse" who spent most of his time with his art, and it was therefore through his art that he navigated his complex relationships with his family. Freud hardly ever used professional models, opting instead for subjects he knew because of the deeper psychological bond between him and them. As the artist once said: "I work from people that interest me, and that I care about and think about, in rooms that I live in and know."

Despite being a detached father, some of Freud's children frequently modelled for him, and these works reveal both the love and distance between them. Freud's portrait of Kai, his unofficial stepson, is telling of the closeness some of his family were afforded. In his work Bella, Freud captures his daughter, Bella Freud, with a coolness and objectivity quite unexpected from a father. The paternal bond between them seems irrelevant, and he idealises nothing. In Bella In Her Pluto Shirt on the other hand, Bella returned to sit for her father and he produced a portrait which speaks more of the intimacy between them. Bella was one of Freud's children that returned to model - even nude - for her father throughout his career, alongside Ib and Esther.

Perhaps Freud's nearest and dearest Family sitter was his mother, Lucie Freud. Lucie allegedly sat for her son more than 1,000 times, and had 18 portraits painted of her over the space of a decade. There are few people that know us as intimately as our mothers, and Freud's representations of Lucie are testament to that unique bond. The Painter's Mother, for example, is a portrait of Lucie which pierces the purely representational to reveal the poignant emotional and psychological bond between mother and son. Indeed, their relationship as recorded in Lucian's work is probably something which would have intrigued his grandfather, Sigmund Freud.

Freud is famous for putting all who modelled for him through a mentally and physically taxing sitting process, but the depictions of his Family are loaded with a distinct intensity. These were some of the subjects Freud truly knew, and they reveal as much about the man behind the canvas as those in front of it.

Lucian Freud's etchings of his Family form a career-spanning body of work. They reveal not only the constant evolution of his stylistic approach to portraiture, but also document his closest relationships with his children, partners, and mother. Countless affairs, a lack of communication, and a prioritisation of his art above all else made Freud an unconventional family man. However, the profundity of his Family works lies in the uneasiness and unfamiliarity between sitter and artist. As Vanity Fair's David Kamp acknowledged after Freud's death, "his children generally seemed to accept that sitting for Freud was the way to have a fulfilling relationship with their father." Indeed, it is through these works that Freud seems to penetrate that awkwardness, and truly break down the barriers with those in his bloodline.
If you're looking to sell art by Lucian Freud, click the link and we can help. We employ a number of techniques and practices in order to give a realistic and achievable valuation of any art listed on myartbroker.com. We analyse the demand for work in question, take into consideration previous sales and auction valuations, we assess the current gallery valuation and monitor the current deals taking place via MyArtBroker every day. We regularly advise sellers on a price bracket for their artwork completely free of charge.