Lucian Freud ‘one of the great painters of the 20th century’ dies

LUCIAN FREUD, a towering and uncompromising figure in the art world for more than 50 years, has died, his New York-based art dealer said yesterday. He was 88.

Spokeswoman Bettina Prentice said that Freud died after an illness at his London home late Wednesday night, but didn’t give any further details.

Freud was known for his intense realist portraits, particularly of nudes. His paintings commanded staggering prices at auction, including one of an overweight nude woman sleeping on a couch that sold in 2008 for $33.6 million (€23m).

William R Acquavella, his dealer, said in a statement that he would mourn Freud “as one of the great painters of the 20th century.”

“He lived to paint and painted until the day he died, far removed from the noise of the art world,” he said.

Freud stubbornly refused to follow the trends of that world, insisting on using his realist approach even when it was out of favour with critics and collectors. He developed his own unique style, eventually winning recognition as one of the world’s greatest painters.

“He certainly is considered one of the most important painters of the 20th and 21st Centuries,” said Brett Gorvy, deputy chair of the postwar art department at Christie’s auction house in New York. “He stayed with his figurative approach even when it was extremely unpopular, when abstraction was the leading concept, and as time moved on his classic approach has proven to be very important.”

He said Freud remained totally dedicated to his work, overcoming all obstacles and painting long hours every day well into his late 80s in a sustained bid to complete his life’s work before death overtook him.

“He lived and breathed his art,” said Gorvy. “For someone who was so successful, he was extraordinarily regulated in his day, with three main sittings a day and some at night. He worked each and every day to this very tough regime.”

Freud was the grandson of Sigmund Freud, a leading pioneer of modern psychoanalysis. He was born in Berlin in 1922 and moved to London with his parents in 1933 after Hitler rose to power in Germany.