Lucian Freud: The Painter and His Family review – a ‘delightfully domestic’ show
This is ‘a must’ for anyone intrigued by Freud’s ‘storied life’
In 1933, the 11-year-old Lucian Freud and his family fled Nazi Germany for Britain, said Bridget Galton in the Ham & High (London). Five years later, following Hitler’s annexation of Austria, the budding artist’s paternal grandfather Sigmund would follow suit, settling at 20 Maresfield Gardens in Hampstead; he would die there just over a year later. Now a museum, the psychoanalyst’s final home is currently playing host to an “intimate” exhibition exploring his Lucian’s work through the prism of his childhood and relationships with family members. The show brings together a number of portraits of the artist’s mother, children and other relatives, as well as a wealth of archival material including photographs, letters and childhood drawings. In its course, the curators touch on many “lesser-known aspects” of Freud’s life, from his “love of reading” to his “fascination with horses”.
Don’t come expecting to discover much about Freud’s inner life, said Jonathan Jones in The Guardian. In the portraits of family members here, he “strives for utter objectivity”: a likeness of his mother Lucie, hanging just above Sigmund’s famous consulting couch, concentrates as much on her “patterned dress” as it does on her “time-furrowed flesh”. It’s a terrific painting, but it tells us little about the antagonistic relationship between doting mother and resentful son. Indeed, Lucian didn’t seem to think much of his parents’ family, though he was reportedly fond of Sigmund. There’s an “unsettling” 1999 portrait of his son, Ali Boyt, the focus of which is the sitter’s drooping eyelid. It is only through the caption that we learn Boyt was having “severe drug problems” at the time.
Beyond this, the show ignores the more troubling aspects of Freud’s family relationships: for one thing, the fact he left nothing in his will to several of his children goes unmentioned; so too does his complicated attitude to sex, surely a priority given the venue. Moreover, some of the pictures just aren’t that good: a drawing of Freud’s daughter Bella, for instance, “has no character at all”. Ultimately, it’s a missed opportunity.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
I disagree, said Alastair Sooke in The Daily Telegraph. It’s a “tiny” exhibition, and some of the items – such as a chocolate box the young Lucian decorated with pictures of tropical fish – are mere curiosities. On the whole, though, it’s compelling. Placing an imposing picture of his mother lying on a bed above his grandfather’s couch is “brilliantly apt”; both men “passed their days scrutinising supine people”.
Among the other highlights are a selection of illustrations for book jackets; a picture of a palm tree he drew as a teenager, already showing his “characteristic punctiliousness”; and his only known surviving sculpture, a 1937 carving of a three-legged horse. This “delightfully domestic” show is “a must” for anyone intrigued by Freud’s “storied life”.
Until 29 January 2023 at the Freud Museum, London NW3 (020-7435 2002, freud.org.uk)
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Band Aid 40: time to change the tune?
In the Spotlight Band Aid's massively popular 1984 hit raised around £8m for famine relief in Ethiopia and the charity has generated over £140m in total
By Rebekah Evans, The Week UK Published
-
Starmer vs the farmers: who will win?
Today's Big Question As farmers and rural groups descend on Westminster to protest at tax changes, parallels have been drawn with the miners' strike 40 years ago
By The Week UK Published
-
How secure are royal palaces?
The Explainer Royal family's safety is back in the spotlight after the latest security breach at Windsor
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Ed Park's 6 favorite works about self reflection and human connection
Feature The Pulitzer Prize finalist recommends works by Jason Rekulak, Gillian Linden, and more
By The Week US Published
-
6 fantastic homes in Columbus, Ohio
Feature Featuring a 1915 redbrick Victorian in German Village and a modern farmhouse in Woodland Park
By The Week Staff Published
-
Drawing the Italian Renaissance: a 'relentlessly impressive' exhibition
The Week Recommends Show at the King's Gallery features an 'enormous cache' of works by the likes of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael
By The Week UK Published
-
Niall Williams shares his favourite books
The Week Recommends The Irish novelist chooses works by Charles Dickens, Seamus Heaney and Wendell Berry
By The Week UK Published
-
Patriot: Alexei Navalny's memoir is as 'compelling as it is painful'
The Week Recommends The anti-corruption campaigner's harrowing book was published posthumously after his death in a remote Arctic prison
By The Week UK Published
-
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: a 'magical' show with 'an electrifying emotional charge'
The Week Recommends The 'vivacious' Fitzgerald adaptation has a 'shimmering, soaring' score
By The Week UK Published
-
Bird: Andrea Arnold's 'strange, beguiling and quietly moving' drama
The Week Recommends Barry Keoghan stars in 'fearless' film combining social and magical realism
By The Week UK Published
-
Kate Summerscale's 6 favorite true crime books about real murder cases
Feature The best-selling author recommends works by Helen Garner, Gwen Adshead, and more
By The Week US Published