Lucian Freud, the painter who psychoanalyzed the soul and flesh of his models

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Lucian Freud (Berlin, 1922-London, 2011)

used to go to the

"like someone who goes to the doctor for help".

There, among the paintings by Dürer, Raphael or Rembrandt, he not only looked for inspiration but also tried to imagine the "situations" behind each canvas, the relationship between the painters and their models and the secrets of composition, invisible to ordinary mortals. .

"I looked at the painters of the past to learn to paint in the present", Freud himself would acknowledge over time, with that look that intimidates him since his first self-portraits and that is nailed to the asymmetrical eyes of his first wife,

immortalized in

or "

"We are undoubtedly before the master of intimacy, due to his ability to delve into his models within and offer them to the outside in all their crudeness", warns

curator of the exhibition "

", which will travel in February to the Thyssen museum in Madrid after its "premiere" at the National Gallery.

Art

Art.

The Prado Museum is looking for the owners of almost a hundred works stolen in the Civil War

• Writing: ANTONIO LUCASMadrid

The Prado Museum is looking for the owners of almost a hundred works stolen in the Civil War

Art.

Rogelio López Cuenca, National Fine Arts Award for the rebellious artist

• Writing: ANTONIO LUCASMadrid

Rogelio López Cuenca, National Fine Arts Award for the rebellious artist

Herrman stops before "

", dated 1987, and invites us to travel back in time and try to understand the "situation", as Freud himself did... "One man is naked, the other is dressed, stretched out on a mattress on the floor. The two are apparently asleep and each looking to one side. The hand of the one who is dressed rests gently on the leg of the one who is naked. But despite the promise of sexual connection, that gesture conveys before all trust and tenderness".

When Herrman talks about looking at Freud from "new perspectives" he refers precisely to that: "His painting, especially between the 60s and 80s, is marked by eros and desire. His ability to capture flesh with that texture so real (thanks to his skill with the brush and mastery of the "

" technique) is something that has no equal in figurative painting of the 20th century, but the other great merit is

with a posture on a sofa or with a simple gesture".

Posing for Lucian Freud was an experience almost as intense as sitting on a divan before

the father of psychoanalysis.

His models talk about the eternal sessions in his studio, seasoned however with conversations, meals, discussions, occasional naps and even carnal contact.

Freud breaks down the traditional barriers between the painter and his model and offers himself nude and in action, in a self-portrait dated 1993, the brush in one hand and the palette in the other,

Nearby, sleeping on the lion rug, sprawls out his favorite model, Sue Tilley.

And as a climax we have his latest work, unfinished but tremendously recognizable:

(2011).

In "

", coinciding with the centenary of the birth of Lucian Freud, the National Gallery has also wanted to emphasize the "Europeanism" of the painter, who arrived in the British Isles at the age of eleven and fled from Hitler.

He himself remembered that his destination would possibly have been

if his family did not make the leap in time.

His English education was paramount in marking his artistic path and his first steps are closely linked to the so-called East Anglian School.

Freud however soon found his own way as a portraitist beyond the British context (and despite his friendship/rivalry with Francis Bacon).

The portraits of

(as well as those of Baron Thyssen-Bornemisza and Jacod Rothschild) speak for themselves of his ability to bring his models to life.

Even "His majesty of her", the minimalist painting that he made to Isabel II in 2001, overcomes in this context its fame as a failed portrait and acquires a new and unexpected dimension after the death of the monarch.

Although there will always be those who think that Freud made the Queen ugly because deep down he was a republican...

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