Lucian Freud

Claire Brentnall

Another sad loss for the art world this year with the death of Lucian Freud. Always prolific, always controversial, Freud may be best remembered for his visceral, fleshy nudes, his achingly stark portraits, or his shockingly ‘unflattering’ (or so labelled by the tabloids) depiction of the Queen. Personally, I will always remember Freud for a painting that may at first glance appear rather ‘un-Freudian’ (or at least when referring to Lucian’s aesthetic).

It was on a visit to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, that I first came across the painting Interior at Paddington. Before reading the label and discovering its creator, I was intrigued by the bizarre, rather awkward scene. A large plant dominates the right hand side of the picture, whilst a stern gentleman stands, seemingly poised for action with fist clenched, to the left. Staring intently at something, or someone past the plant and outside of the frame, I couldn’t help but wonder what was going to happen next.

This suspense: a glimpsed preliminary moment to some unknown event, made me feel uncomfortable, as did Freud's depiction of the the dagger-like leaves, the snagged blood-red carpet and the man’s ‘get-set’ stance.

The Walker Galllery website suggests that Freud was mirroring Holbein’s full-length portraits of Henry VIII in terms of the posturing of the man at Paddington, replacing Henry VIII’s elegant gloves with a lit cigarette. Perhaps though, in front of this painting, I began mirroring its uncomfort, its unease. Indeed, Lucian Freud is quoted to have said that "the task of the artist is to make the human being uncomfortable", and this is something that he most certainly achieved time and time again throughout his inexhaustible career, with his often shocking and in-your-face pictures. The work of Lucian Freud, and this painting in particular however, I find, offers a certain type of enjoyable unease: an uncomfortable, adrenaline fuelled pleasure, like getting 'on your mark' at the start of a race, or anticipating the twist in a plot.