Lucian Freud Portraits and Drawings marks what will probably be the last hurrah of one of the twentieth century's greatest painters before he is consigned to the history books. Freud, who died in July 2011 at the age of 88, is considered in modern art terms as a very singular personality - a relic of a style of artistry that changed with the breed of new generation artists in the 1960s and 1970s. This major exhibition at National Portrait Gallery, London, is the third - and last - major retrospective of the man's work to take place, following shows at Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 2008 and Centre George Pompidou in 2010.
This large-scale display features over 130 images from public and private collections around the world, some of which have never been seen before in public. The exhibition comprises the most comprehensive look at Freud's work ever to have been assembled, dating almost seventy years, from the early 1940s to the time of Freud's death. Included here are works such as Girl in a Dark Jacket (1947); Portrait of the Hound, of Freud's assistant David Dawson and incomplete at the time of the artist's death; and Benefits Supervisor Sleeping (1995), which at the time of sale was the highest price paid for a work by a living artist, having sold to Roman Abramovich in 2008 for over £17 million.
In a year of blockbuster exhibitions, this is your last chance to join millions in wake for the late artist.
Lucian Freud Portraits and Drawings is at National Portrait Gallery until 27 May 2012.
