Lucian Freud
Lucian Freud
Lucian Michael Freud OM CH was a British painter. Known chiefly for his thickly impastoed portrait and figure paintings, he was widely considered the pre-eminent British artist of his time. His works are noted for their psychological penetration and their often discomforting examination of the relationship between artist and model...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth8 December 1922
CityBerlin, Germany
Lucian Freud quotes about
element fact merely revelation strike truth
There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.
atmosphere feeling painting perception register wishes
It is through observation and perception of atmosphere that he can register the feeling that he wishes his painting to give out.
accurate copies faithfully hung model next since whether
Since the model he so faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture... it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model.
feels model painted painter preserving thinks took
The picture is all he feels about it, all he thinks worth preserving of it, all he invests it with. If all the qualities which a painter took from the model for his picture were really taken, no person could be painted twice.
entirely whether
Whether it will convince or not, depends entirely on what it is in itself, what is there to be seen.
ask fascinated fellow human interested
You ask why I'm fascinated by the human figure? As a human animal, I am interested in some of my fellow animals: in their minds and bodies.
people spite
I paint people not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.
I never think about my style but just try and make the pictures look believable.
drama people creative
I've always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It's people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.
thinking use being-there
A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure.
art spring promise
A moment of complete happiness never occurs in the creation of a work of art. The promise of it is felt in the act of creation but disappears towards the completion of the work. For it is then the painter realises that it is only a picture he is painting. Until then he had almost dared to hope the picture might spring to life.
people care rooms
I work from the people that interest me, and that I care about, in rooms that I live in and know. I use the people to invent my pictures, and I can work more freely when they are there.
taken quality painter
If all the qualities which a painter took from the model for his picture were really taken, no person could be painted twice.
artist giving feelings
It is through observation and perception of atmosphere that he [the artist] can register the feeling that he wishes his painting to give out.