OBITUARY: Lucian Freud - the uncompromising artist

By Britta Guerke and Annette Reuther Jul 22, 2011, 10:42 GMT

London - The art world on Friday mourned the death of British artist Lucian Freud, who died at the age of 88.

Freud, who was a grandson of psychoanalysis founder Sigmund Freud, died at his London home after a brief illness.

Lucian Freud was best known for his unflattering nudes which strongly divided opinion.

For some, they were beautiful and fascinating, for others shocking and provoking.

But most experts agree that they were unique, earning Freud a place 'in the hall of fame of late 20th-century art,' in the words of Nicholas Serota, director of London's Tate Gallery.

Freud did not idealize his models, but showed them in an uncompromisingly honest, even merciless light.

He mostly painted family members and friends, who sat patiently for him for hours.

He did not seek out models famous for their beauty, though he did make exceptions for top model Kate Moss and Jerry Hall, the former wife of rock musician Mick Jagger.

While Sigmund Freud plunged into the depths of the human soul, Lucian Freud focused on what people showed on the outside. That included fat and wrinkles, veins underneath a pale skin, or hanging breasts.

Freud wanted his portraits to be 'the people themselves,' rather than just their superficial appearance, as he once said.

Freud's fame had grown ever more in recent years, with his works selling for millions of dollars and constituting the highlights of sales at the biggest auction houses.

Few now recall comments that were made in the early years of his career, when he was told he was not modern enough.

Freud had first been inspired by Surrealism, and later held on to a figurative style, despite the general dominance of the abstract at the time.

Lucian Freud was born in Berlin. After the Nazis took power in 1933, he moved with his family to Britain, and became a British citizen in 1939.

He began painting as a child and attended the London Central School of Art at the early age of 14.

He first became known for his talent in drawing, and staged his first exhibition at the age of 21.

His fame grew such that he even painted Queen Elizabeth II, with whom he reportedly held interesting conversations during their long hours together.

The portrait, which makes the queen look almost like a man, divided the British public.

Outside the avant-garde art scene, Freud was often seen as a rebel - some even called him a pornographer.

The painter's private life also caused scandal, with rumours that he had had up to 40 children out of wedlock.

Freud also sometimes got into physical fights. It was not that he liked fighting, but that was the only way to respond to the intolerable insults that people sometimes hurled at him, he said.