Lucian Freud Quotes on Art

Lucian Freud was a famous German born British painter, printmaker and draughtsman. He is best known for his revealing paintings of people, especially nudes. Famous Lucian Freud paintings include “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (Big Sue)”, “Girl with Closed Eyes”, “Interior at Paddington”, “Red Haired Man on a Chair”, “Kate Moss”, “Standing by the Rags”, “David and Eli”, “After Cézanne”, “Francis Bacon Portrait”, “Large Interior W11 (after Watteau)”, “Girl with a Kitten” and “Girl with a White Dog”.

Mini biography: Born Lucian Michael Freud on the 8th of December, 1922 in Berlin, Germany. His mother was Lucie née Brasch and his father Ernst L. Freud was the son of famous psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. Freud married Kathleen Epstein in 1948 and divorced in 1952. They had two children: Annabel Freud and Annie Freud. He married his second wife Lady Caroline Blackwood in 1952 and divorced in 1959. He also had other children with multiple mistresses with the total child count said to be at about thirteen or fourteen. The artist died on the 20th of July, 2011 in London, England, United Kingdom of Great Britain at the age of 88. He is buried at the Highgate Cemetery in north London, England.

List of Famous Lucian Freud Art Quotes

My work is purely autobiographical. It is about myself and my surroundings. It is an attempt at a record. I work with people that interest me, and that I care about and think about, in rooms that I live in and know. Lucian Freud

What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince. Lucian Freud

I remember Francis Bacon would say that he felt he was giving art what he thought it previously lacked. With me, it’s what Yeats called the fascination with what’s difficult. I’m only trying to do what I can’t do. Lucian Freud

I used to find death much scarier when I was younger – I had more to lose. Now, when I see old people driving slowly I want to shout at them. They should live a little more because it’s nearly over for them anyway. Lucian Freud

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. Lucian Freud

I have a hatred of habit and routine. And what dogs love is just that. They like regular everything, and I don’t have regular anything. I have a timetable, but no routine. Lucian Freud

The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real. Lucian Freud

I am only interested in painting the actual person, in doing a painting of them, not in using them to some ulterior end of art. For me, to use someone doing something not native to them would be wrong. Lucian Freud

I want paint to work as flesh, I know my idea of portraiture came from dissatisfaction with portraits that resembled people. I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having to look at the sitter, being them. As far as I am concerned, the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as the flesh does. Lucian Freud

When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won’t. 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. Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud Self Portrait Painting

More on British Artist Lucian Freud

How has Lucian Freud influenced your art making? Is he one of your favorite famous painters of the human figure? Let us know what you think about Lucian Freud in the comments below.

Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: David Hockney, Frank Auerbach, Francis Bacon, Jenny Saville and other Famous British Artists.