Freud, Lucian (1922– )

German-born British painter. One of the greatest contemporary figurative artists, he combines meticulous accuracy with a disquieting intensity, painting from unusual angles and emphasizing the physicality of his subjects, whether nudes, still lifes, or interiors. His Portrait of Francis Bacon (1952; Tate Gallery, London) is one of his best-known works. He is a grandson of Sigmund Freud.

Born in Berlin, Freud moved to the UK in 1933. Largely self-taught, he was one of the Neo-Romantic group of English painters in his early years, but developed a realistic style from the 1950s. He continued to produce an impressive body of work, including paintings, etchings, and drawings, into his early eighties. A major retrospective exhibition of his work opened at the Tate Modern, London, in 2002, and then travelled to Barcelona, Spain, and Los Angeles.