Retrospective dedicated to Lucian Freud at the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum

The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum, in collaboration with the National Gallery in London, presents from February 14 to June 18, a retrospective dedicated to the British painter Lucian Freud (1922-2011), on the occasion of the centenary of his birth. The exhibition, curated by Daniel Herrmann in London and by Paloma Alarcó in Madrid, brings together more than fifty works that show the seven decades of production of one of the most significant European artists of the 20th century. The extensive catalogue, with texts by the curators and contributions by different specialists in his work and by several contemporary artists, raises new questions about the current relevance of Freud's work in order to bring it closer to new generations. After the presentation in London, the exhibition arrives at the Madrid museum, where it has the collaboration of the Community of Madrid.

Exhibiting Freud's art in the context of two historical museums allows us to show the artist in a line of continuity with the past. A regular visitor to the great art galleries, a whole series of allusions to the great masters can be traced in his work, from Holbein, Cranach, Hals, Velázquez, Rembrandt or Watteau to Ingres, Courbet, Rodin or Cézanne, although this link coexists with a strong will for independence. The new look proposed by this exhibition, the first major retrospective to be organized since his death in 2011, focuses attention on the permanent commitment to the essence of painting.

The exhibition is divided into several sections that, more or less chronologically, review the evolution and themes of the painter: Arrivar a ser Freud, dedicated to the first works, with a determined figurative will in front of the dominant abstract currents; First portraits, in which his desire to capture the essence of his models is already evident; Intimacy, which shows his predilection for portraying characters from his environment; Power, portraits of characters that he agrees to do as long as they comply with the working conditions; The studio, his work space turned into the protagonist of his work, and The flesh, nude portraits that show a deep observation of the human body and the mortality of the flesh.