National Portrait Gallery, St Martin’s Place, London WC2H OHE
12 February 2026 – 04 May 2026
After Freud’s death in 2011, the National Portrait Gallery was in receipt of his ‘works on paper’ in lieu of government taxes. One hundred and seventy drawings, etchings and paintings from the Lucian Freud Archive are included in this exhibition.
As we travel through his extremely well-connected world, we see his drawings from an early age in Berlin, to paintings and drawings of village boys and school friends on arrival in the UK. Numerous works on paper trace his processes, observation and exploration. Not known for always producing a good likeness, the drawings are strong and deliberate, it’s fascinating to compare preparatory drawings to completed paintings.
Exhibition entrance. The artist’s studio, photograph,
Man at Night (Self-Portrait), Pen and ink on paper, 1947-48. A self-portrait, Freud studying himself in a mirror.
Large Interior, London W9, Oil on canvas, 1973.
Jacquetta Eliot and Lucie Freud. Beneath the chair is the pestle and mortar, which he used to grind charcoal to mix with paint.
Naked Man on a Bed, Oil on canvas, 1990. The last painting of Angus Cook.
The Painter’s Mother, Charcoal and white crayon on paper, 1984.
Lucie Freud was born in 1896 in Berlin, the family left Germany for England in 1933. Towards the end of her life she became his most frequent subject, apart from himself.
Quince on a Blue Table, Oil on canvas, 1943-4.
A favourite possession, the stuffed zebra’s head was acquired from a taxidermist, and features in various paintings.
Gallery wall of 1990s etchings.
Palm Tree, Pastel, chalk and ink on paper, 1942.
The palm tree, purchased in St. John’s Wood, lived in his studio, and is a trope in sundry paintings.
Hotel Bedroom, Oil on canvas, 1952.
For a short period, Freud and Caroline Blackwood lived at the Hotel La Louisiane, Paris. This appears to be a rather uncomfortable scene, she pensively lying in the bed in the foreground, and Freud standing in the shadows.
Last Portrait, Oil on canvas, 1974-7.
Traces of the charcoal drawing remain on this unfinished painting of Jacquetta Eliot.
Exhibition Poster, Girl with a Fig Leaf, Etching on paper, 1947.
Freud married Kitty Garman, daughter of Jacob Epstein and Kathleen Garman, in 1948. They divorced in 1952; she was the first woman to sit for him regularly.
