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Self-Portrait) My Work Is Purely Autobiographical

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Self-Portrait) My Work Is Purely Autobiographical ART AND IMAGES IN PSYCHIATRY SECTION EDITOR: JAMES C. HARRIS, MD Lucian Freud’s Reflection (Self-Portrait) My work is purely autobiographical. It is about myself and my surroundings. It is an attempt at a record. I work with people that interest me, and that I care about and think about, in rooms that I live in and know. Lucian Freud1(p7) UCIAN FREUD (1922-2011), byKennethClark.5 Thedistinctionbetween phasized thickly applied white and deep grandson of Sigmund Freud, naked and nude is central to Clark’s dis- red colors. is considered to be the leading cussion. Clark writes that “to be naked is Because Freud stood when he painted, realist painter of the last cen- to be deprived of our clothes, and the word his figures often appear foreshortened. He Ltury. His father Ernst Freud, an architect, implies some of the embarrassment most preferred not to use professional models was the 4th of Sigmund Freud’s 6 children of us feel in that condition,”5(p23) but that as his subjects. Instead, his models were and was the youngest son. Lucian grew up the nude is balanced and confident. “[I]n peoplefromallwalksoflifewhomheknew, in Berlin, Germany, far from the influ- the greatest age of painting, the nude in- including his adult daughters, who found ence of the birthplace of psychoanalysis spired the greatest works.”5(p23) For Clark, thatposingforhimwasoneoftheonlyways in Vienna, Austria. Grandfather Sigmund the nude as a conceptual and artistic cat- to spend time with him and to get to know visited Lucian’s family in Berlin regularly egoryalwaysinvolvedthenotionofanideal him as a father. Despite his ongoing ban- during his childhood, and he also came to abstractedfromtherealitythatweconfront ter with those who posed for him as he Berlin for treatment of a malignant squa- in our everyday lives.5 He wrote that, in art, worked, his stern scrutiny of their bodies mouscellcarcinomaofthepalate.Sigmund “[w]e do not wish to imitate; we wish to was often discomforting and unsettling. gavehisgrandsonLuciananillustratedver- perfect.”5(p26) Freud believed that his paintings were not sion of The Arabian Nights and Brueghel like people but of people whom he care- prints, and read comic strips (Max and fully observed. Yet some have suggested Moritz) with him, facilitating Lucian’s in- that the melancholy realism of his paint- terest in art.1,2 Living in Berlin in 1930 as ings is more informative of his view of hu- an 8-year-old German Jew, Lucian learned manity than reflective of his subjects. of discrimination when he was told he was Lucian Freud created self-portraits not eligible for the Hitler Youth.3 throughouthislifetime.Astheyearspassed, When Hitler came to power as chan- his work increasingly looked inward, es- cellor of Germany in January 1933 and be- pecially his self-portraits. Illustrative of his gan his anti-Semitic crusade, Ernst Freud evolvingapproach,intheearly1960swhen moved his family to London, England. Lu- he was in his early 40s, his harsh gaze was cianwas11yearsoldatthetimeofthemove apparentinself-portraitheads.Somelooked and had to make the difficult transition to outward and others downward scrutiniz- a new country and to a new language. ing the viewer. In the mid-1960s, he cre- Grandfather Sigmund Freud remained in ated the best known of his early self- Germany until 1938. It was only after Ger- portraits, Reflection With Two Children many invaded Austria and his daughter Figure. Reflection With Two Children (Self- (Self-Portrait) (Figure). It is a night paint- Anna was interrogated by the Gestapo that Portrait), Lucian Freud. ing that is lit by ceiling lights. It shows Freud reluctantly agreed to leave Vienna figures reflected from a mirror placed on forLondonwithhiswifeanddaughter.Lu- Lucian Freud acknowledged that he the floor, creating an awkward point of cian visited with his grandfather in Lon- painted naked people; he did not paint view. Two of his 4 children, Alexander donandwasphotographedwithhiminthe nudes. Indicative of his attitude toward na- and Rose, are shown. Their mother was last year of Sigmund Freud’s life. He fondly kedness, in 1964, Freud assigned his stu- Suzy Boyt, his pupil at Slade Art School remembered joking with his grandfather. dents at the Norwich College of Art in Nor- in London. The children appear like dolls Of Sigmund Freud’s books, Lucian liked folk,England,tocreatenakedself-portraits. in the foreground, apparently unaware of Jokes and Their Relation to the Unconscious He asked them to “try and make it the most their colossal father standing above them. best.2 revealing, telling and believable object. In Interior With Plant, Reflection Listening Lucian Freud insisted that it was Sig- Somethingreallyshamelessyouknow.”6(p32) (1967-1968), he appears naked in a gar- mund Freud as biologist, not as psycholo- Despite this rejection of the ideal, Freud’s den with his hand cupped over his right gist, that appealed to him.4 He commented stark realism, stylistic development, and ear, listening. There followed a hiatus in on Sigmund’s early research with Austrian technical virtuosity were celebrated as of- self-portraiture that lasted until the 1980s. Darwinist Professor Karl Claus seeking to fering a new approach to realism in por- Then, in his 60s, in Naked Portrait With identifythemalereproductiveorganineels trait art. Still his work remained contro- Reflection (1980), he reveals only his legs and his studies with renowned physiolo- versial. His self-portraits and those of his and feet standing behind a naked woman gist Ernst Bru¨ck. subjects are visceral, almost tactile, thickly with large distorted breasts who is lying Lucian Freud said that his art empha- impastoed portraits and figure paintings on a tattered couch. In Reflection (Self- sized man’s animal nature.1 His focus on that document his fascination with flesh Portrait) (1981-1982), he presents him- nakedness in both male and female mod- and its contours. As his work matured, he self in profile with a leering snakelike gaze els is antithetical to the aesthetically beau- incorporated broader strokes and used a reminiscent of Mephistopheles. In Two tiful “nude” in art as classically described more restricted palette of colors that em- Irishmen in WW11 (1984-1985), his im- JAMA PSYCHIATRY/ VOL 70 (NO. 5), MAY 2013 WWW.JAMAPSYCH.COM 455 ©2013 American Medical Association. All rights reserved. Downloaded From: https://jamanetwork.com/ on 09/27/2021 age is obscured, appearing only in 2 small friends, and lovers. He was not a society of morphine to be administered. Sigmund unfinished paintings resting against the portraitist like John Singer Sargent. He did Freud died peacefully on September 23, back wall. not seek to flatter; his portraits are gener- 1939,afterDrMaxSchur,8 hislongtimeper- In 1985, Lucian Freud completed one ally stark and often unsettling, especially sonalphysician,administeredtheoverdose of his best-known self-portraits, the intro- when showing detailed full frontal naked- of morphine that Freud had requested. Re- spective Reflection (Self-Portrait) (cover). ness and distorted postures in both male flectingonthisbereavement,LucianFreud It demonstrates the virtuosity of his tech- andfemalemodels.Hedidnotrelyonpho- remembered his grandfather’s disfigured nique. The viewer has the sense of his bony tographicimagesofhissubjects,asdomany face and the hole in his cheek from can- weight. His gaze is no longer focused out- portrait artists. He remained in the room cer surgery that he said was the reason no ward as before but now seems inward and with his subjects as he painted them, in- death mask was made. Unlike his grand- unfocused. Perhaps he is deep in thought tensely observing and noting his interac- father, Lucian remained in reasonable or uncertain. The self-portrait is painted tions with them; his paintings incorporate health until his late 80s. In 2006, he enthu- in bright light, with his head casting a deep those relationships. Remarkably, his 1995 siastically agreed that a retrospective ex- shadow over his chest. The flesh of his face portrait of Sue Tilley, a morbidly obese hibit of his portraits be displayed as part and chest are seemingly constructed from womanwhoislyingnakedonacouch,Ben- of the 2012 Olympic Game events in Lon- contrasting shadows, olive green against efits Supervisor Sleeping, sold in 2008 for don and looked forward to attending. But thepalepinkofhisskinwithdramatichigh- 33.6 million dollars, a world-record auc- he did not live to see the exhibit. He con- lights. One ear is in shadow, and the other tion price for a living artist. tinued to actively paint until his death at in light. His head seems to come forward, As a youth, Lucian Freud was both cu- the age of 88 on July 20, 2011, following apparently moving off the canvas and into rious and willful. He was expelled from his a brief illness. the viewer’s personal space. The play of high school for dropping his trousers in Lucian Freud set one final record for warm and cool coloring draws the viewer public on a bet. He did not apply himself an artist after his death when he left an es- into this moment of self-reflection. academically in school and was fortunate tate valued at $156 million to be admin- Freud continued with self-portraiture that his artistic talent was recognized early istered by one his daughters and his law- into his 70s. His Painter Working, Reflec- on, allowing him to enter art school after yer. Bedridden at the end of his life, he was tion (1993) is a full-length frontal portrait his expulsion. In his later years, he was visited by family members and, through ofanakeddefiantoldmanwearingunlaced known as a gambler. He had a notorious those meetings, was reconciled with them boots who is holding up his paintbrush in temper and had many falling-outs with his before his death. his right hand like a weapon, with his pal- friends.
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