Length of the film: 80 minutes
In January 2023, Pannonia Entertainment Ltd. will continue EOS, Exhibition on Screen, a British fine art series, and in addition to publishing new episodes, it will return again and again to portraits of previous, highly successful or even curiosities.
The Royal Academy of Arts in London, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, collected and presented Lucian Freud’s self-portraits for the first time between October 27, 2019 and January 26, 2020.
The exhibition featured more than 50 paintings, prints and drawings by the master of contemporary British art who died in 2011, the grandson of Sigmund Freud. Today’s world-famous painter is among those of the XX. he was one of the artists of the 20th century who, for decades, consistently directed their attention to themselves again and again, and continuously recorded the changes in their self-image.
When Lucian Freud was asked if he was a good model for himself, he replied: “No, I do not accept what I am confronted with when I look at myself; and this is where the problem begins.” It is precisely this “problem” that makes Freud’s self-portraits so fascinating. With each image, he began to express himself anew.
The exhibition brings together works from seven decades, the earliest picture was taken in 1939, and the last one 64 years later. The selection offers a fascinating insight into both the creator’s psyche and his artistic development. The pictures not only report on the aging process, but also reflect changes in self-representation and self-evaluation.
In his youth, we see the painter as the Greek hero Acteon, and finally as a drooping old man who stands naked in front of us in boots without laces. We can follow his creative methods from his early graphic works dominated by lines to the pastose paintings built from thick brush strokes, in which he found his own style.
For Lucian Freud, with the act of looking and observing, the gaze embraces the universe. The film from the exhibition is a unique opportunity to get to know the art and thinking of a great contemporary master.
In English, with Hungarian subtitles – Age limit is over 12 years.
Recommendation by Aggie Reiter
Rolling in Budapest 