Lucian Freud

Private Collection (acquired directly from the artist) 

Sale: Sotheby's, London, Contemporary Art Evening Sale, 21 June 2006, Lot 11

New York, Acquavella Contemporary Art Inc., Lucian Freud: Recent Paintings and Etchings, 2004, n.p., no. 13, illustrated in colour 

Venice, Museo Correr, Lucian Freud, 2005, p. 165, no. 73, illustrated in colour

Sebastian Smee, Lucian Freud 1996-2005, New York 2005, n.p., no. 57, illustrated in colour

William Feaver, Lucian Freud, New York 2007, n.p., no. 328, illustrated in colour 

Colour: The colour in the printed catalogue is fairly accurate, although the overall tonality is lighter and more vibrant in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals two minute specks of loss to the extreme edge: one towards the centre of the top edge and the other towards the centre of the left edge. There is very minor stable craquelure in places towards the right edge. In keeping with the artist's technique of expanding the canvas there is a fine line of original overpainting running vertically along the join that fluoresces under ultraviolet light.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

Painted in 2001 – the same year that Freud painted the portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Kate Moss – After Breakfast is a culmination of Lucian Freud’s lifelong analysis of the human form. It combines sensuous impasto with a compositional rigour that defines some of the artist’s most acclaimed works. The intimate scale of the painting emphasises the domestic setting while the full length nude draws the viewer to the image in a manner that makes the viewing experience as private as the subject perceived. Channelling fifty years of painted experience into this delicate composition, the female naked portrait is a subject that lies at the very core of Freud’s oeuvre and constitutes his most important and celebrated canon of works. More than any other, they define his commitment to capturing emotional as well as physical identity and have provided the main arena for his incessant drive for stylistic renovation. The bravura brushstrokes and the meticulous architecture of the picture plane truly expose Freud’s compelling originality and the objective realism underlying his vision. On the choice of his subjects, Freud once said: “I work from people that interest me and that I care about, in rooms that I live in and know. I use the people to invent my pictures with, and I can work more freely when they are there” (Lucian Freud quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Hayward Gallery, Lucian Freud, 1974, p. 13).

The position of the sitter conveys an aura of utmost privacy and intimacy, a moment taken out of life that is filled with quiet contemplation. The tenderness of the woman is heightened by the exposed vulnerability and solitude of her pose. This is accentuated further by the view we are afforded which is shared in many of Freud’s famous nudes. Typically for Freud, the view from above injects a conscious awkwardness into the perspective of his compositions and exposes the model in all their fragility. The tonality of the skin demonstrates Freud’s absolute mastery of colour, which ranges from soft, pale, reddish-pink shades to fleshy, luscious, dark timbres as the subtle morning light is mirrored on every pore of the skin. The brushmarks exude an aura of studied duration as six months of sittings are impacted upon its finely tuned surface. It reveals Freud's determined attitude to painting that has enabled him to capture the human animal better than any artist of his generation. His virtuoso painterly talent transforms the image into one of emotional force, for everything one ultimately feels in front of this painting emanates from the means by which it is conveyed – the paint itself. Every square inch is packed with vitality and atmosphere – the tangible by-products of his dogged concentration and acutely honed sensitivity to mood. Each rhythmic accent and minute flash of colour combine to give a sense of intensified and authentic reality. "I want paint to work as flesh" Freud explained, "I have always had a scorn for 'la belle peinture' and 'la delicatesse des touches'. I know my idea of portraiture came from dissatisfaction with portraits that resembled people. I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them. I didn't want to get just a likeness like a mimic, but to portray them, like an actor. As far as I'm concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does" (Lucian Freud quoted in: Lawrence Gowing, Lucian Freud, London 1982, pp. 190-91).

In his pursuit of the personal and evocative expression in painting, Freud radically circumvented traditional approaches of figurative painting. His human subjects are soaked in particularity and saturated with contradiction. Although immediately specific in terms of subject and pose, they do not insist on just one aspect of character or physical fact, but rather present as much as possible at the same time to give a fuller impression of mental as well as physical identity. In this complex duality, Freud’s works recall the depiction of the nude by artists of the Viennese Secession such as Egon Schiele or Gustav Klimt, whose gestural and provocative display of the human form also allow for a double entendre of the physical and the psychological. The emphasis and skewing of different parts of the body liberates the work from pure representation and allows for a more subtle and complex conversation with the viewer.

Sprawled across a sea of billowing white sheets, the model and the distinctive physiognomy of Freud's studio are rendered with tender yet forensic examination. Rather than taking the focus away from the nude, the intricate detail given to every corner of the canvas enhances the fullness and identity of the sitter. It enables the nude to inhabit the paint of her skin like a body would a room. “The space around the figure is part of the figure” (Lucian Freud quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, National Portrait Gallery, Lucian Freud Portraits, 2012, p. 14). The juxtaposed contrasts in texture between the woman’s fleshy vulnerability, the paint rags, armchair and gnarled floorboards convey an acute sensitivity to the expressiveness of inanimate, still-life objects as well as their capacity to enrich the presence of his sitters. The paint rags in particular are a motif employed to skilled effect in many of his best nudes, notably in the iconic Lying by the Rags and in his celebrated series of portraits of Leigh Bowery. Used to compliment his concentration upon the living flesh, they emphasise also the physicality and animalistic contours of the derobed forms they envelop. "I'm interested, really interested in them [his sitters] as animals and part of liking to work from them naked is that I can see more and for that... forms repeated throughout the body and often in the head as well so that you see certain rhythms set up... I am drawn to certain things, rather like Eliot said 'I am moved by fancies that are curled'.... the insides and undersides of things I'm very often drawn to and when I'm working from a person I might use something which would actually be visible from another position because it's something that I like that would show in light" (Lucian Freud quoted in: Exhibition Catalogue, London, Whitechapel Art Gallery, Lucian Freud: Recent Work, 1994, p. 17).

The startling honesty with which the artist captured the woman’s foetal position, the striping of her hair or the expression of her face is testament to the intimacy between the painter and his model. While the personal relationship is perceptible in every detail of the work, Freud’s exact and accurate eye avoids any sense of sentimentality. Rather, in its unrelenting observational intensity, the present work is exemplary of Freud’s ability to give further insight into the sitters’ character. Freud achieves this by painting beyond representation, by communicating something extra about the subject that transforms it from being an impersonal exchange into an intimate conversation. In all of its expressive power, After Breakfast is a masterful display of Freud’s painterly dexterity which captures the essence of the human figure and ultimately reminds us of the solicitude of human nature, especially in its most exposed state.