Lucian Freud: The world’s most expensive living painter passed away
Tags:
20th century painter Lucian Freud died on Wednesday night in London, grandson of Sigmund Freud (father of psychoanalysis), son of an Austrian-born architect German mother born in Berlin, in winter 1922. An art connoisseur friend, Paul George sent me an email around 4.20am with a link to an international newspaper article regarding Lucian Freud's death. What terrible news to receive early morning!
I was ruminating about Freud thereafter, and now I started believing, 'Freud had left innumerable 'life' (paintings) for us to remember and enrich our love for art'. When I sent out the sad news via sms to few of my friends this morning, one of a many replies was from curator Ranjit Hoskote who wrote - Very Sad News: 'he belonged to a heroic age of post-war painting, the recover of the vulnerable human body.'
A physical painter, one of the greatest oil-impasto painters, I was amazed the first time I saw his works when I traveled to London with a British Council grant for the first time in my life in 1993 – it was almost as if he had carved figures on huge canvases brushed with impasto. Seeing an original work of art cannot be described by words or gestures. I have always believed, 'making art with your own hand is most inventive, most sensitive, most personal, most sensual (I like to use all adjectives here!) and near to an artist'. Lucian Freud was the painters’ painter of figurative, life painting.
He was also a master of drawing and etching. I always felt that he could handle any medium with ease in any size and magnitude. Flesh painter, he painted his soul mates, friends, collectors… He was the painter of nudes.
Lucian Freud moved to the United Kingdom in 1933 and became a British citizen in 1939. I always believed Richard Hamilton, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud were the most brilliant British artists of the 20th century. They have been core influences to young contemporary artists ever since (including talents such as Jenny Saville).
Lucian also enjoyed the crown of the most expensive painter living painter in auction till last Wednesday. His painting Benefits supervisor Sleeping sold for $33.6 million (INR. 150 Crore) .
"The painter has died but a painter like Freud lives in his life paintings."
Post new comment