Lucian Freud would have been 100 this year, and that’s a good excuse to look back over his life and work, but especially his work, as the two have a rather nasty habit of getting entangled in each other. There is certainly a need and clearly a desire for new perspectives on his painting. The current shows of his work – and there are in fact three Lucian Freud exhibitions on in London at the time of writing – aim to take a fresh look at the established master of twentieth century British figurative painting.
There are a few of waysof undertaking such a task, one being to present the work thematically rather than chronologically (or indeed the opposite approach), and this is the stance that the National gallery adopts in its current headline show, “Lucian Freud: New Perspectives” (until 22 January 2023). The other angle is to focus in on a specific reoccurring strand March 2023, and Horses & Freud at Ordovas, London until 22 December this year).
