“I don't paint people the way they are, but they way they happen to be"I first had a glimpse of Lucian Freud’s works in National Gallery, London two decades ago. I was struck by his obsession with the body…the unforgiving body. He obsessively paints each fold of flesh, traces each scar, zit, bluish vein, as if these are the marks the outside world has inflicted on the body. Many of the figures were asleep, exposed, and vulnerable. They were snapshots of loneliness and alienation. Was Lucian Freud, a Freudian? After his father’s death, his mother drifted into a deep, incapacitating depression. Freud and his mother had never gotten along. He found her overbearing, excessively maternal. She was made uncomfortable by much of his work. But he brought her up to his studio and painted her day after day for the next decade. "I started painting her because she had lost interest in me," said Freud. "I couldn't have if she'd been interested. She barely notice, but I had to overcome avoiding her." Lucie Freud sat for her son more for more than 2,000 sessions, continuing until her death in 1980. Eventually, she emerged from her despair and Lucian repaired his brittle relationship with her. All in all, the sessions themselves proved to be a more benevolent form of therapy than Sigmund Freud ever achieved!
3 Comments
7/26/2011 04:25:10 pm
Ironic that psychotherapy should take so many forms..but you've not said if his mother's depression was steadily improved by her sitting for him.
Reply
Arun Kishore
2/11/2012 06:39:59 pm
I saw Freud's recent exhibition yesterday (it is still on at the NAG till May 2012). As you wrote- a fascinating study/ paintings of the unforgiving body.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Dr Raguram
Someone who keeps exploring beyond the boundaries of everyday life to savor and share those unforgettable moments.... Archives
May 2024
Categories |