FREUD, Lucian

1922 - 2011

Lucian Michael Freud was born in Berlin, Germany on 8 December 1922, son of Ernst Ludwig Freud (6 April 1892–7 April 1970), an architect, and his wife Lucie née Brasch (2 March 1896–17 August 1989), who studied art history, Lucian's grandfather was the paradigm-shifting psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. In 1933, Freud and his family left Berlin and settled in London, but since the 1930s, the Freud family were associated with Walberswick, Suffolk spending part of each year there and Ernst designed the 'Hidden House' for his wife Lucie and their sons Stephen, Lucian and Clement. In 1954, following the death of her metal-worker friend Philip Frederick Alexander, Ernst sister Anna (1895-1982), purchased 'Far End', Walberswick and Sir Clement Freud's wife Jill, founded the Southwold Theatre and their daughter Emma, wife of scriptwriter Richard Curtis, were part-time residents. Lucian began making and exhibiting art at an early age and in 1938, one of his drawings was selected for a show of art by children at Peggy Guggenheim's London gallery, although the artist was sixteen at that time, the drawing was from 1930, when Freud had been eight. Despite early talent, his unruly behaviour resulted in him being forced out of multiple schools, once for dropping his pants in a public street. His serious art training began when he enrolled at the East Anglian School of Painting and Drawing then at Dedham, Essex, where many believe that his reckless discarding of a cigarette caused the school to burn down in 1939, when they moved to Benton End, Hadleigh, Suffolk. In 1941, after a brief three months spent in the Merchant Navy, Freud finished his studies and by 1943 had begun to paint seriously and created one of his first important paintings, 'The Painter's Room'. A brief period spent in Europe helped to influence Freud's work, in part when he befriended Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) and Alberto Giacometti (1901-1955) while in Paris in 1946. Once home in London, he joined the staff of the Slade School of Fine Art and began exhibiting in London galleries. Lucian Michael Freud died in London on 20 July 2011. He did a pen & ink painting of his first wife Kitty Garman whom he married in 1948 and divorced in 1953.

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Works by This Artist