Lucian Freud.
English, born Germany, 1922–2011.

ABOUT THIS ARTWORK.

Lucian Freud subjected the human face and figure to uncompromising scrutiny for over fifty years.

Note: I personally find the entire painting distasteful, but I suppose, that’s the point!

The monumental Sunny Morning—Eight Legs confronts us with three models arranged on top of and under a sheet-draped bed in the artist’s London studio. With his head thrown back, his upper torso twisted, and his bent legs stretched awkwardly, the male nude is a study in tension and discomfort, in contrast to the easy tenderness with which he holds a sleeping dog. The legs that emerge from beneath the bed are the reverse of those of the reclining man; the inclusion of the lower pair, without a body, imparts a tone of perversion or even violence. Employing a mostly neutral palette, Freud used thick strokes of paint to create his forms, molding his subject’s flesh similar to the way a sculptor works with clay. The model’s exposed genitals and almost pleading expression; the downward angle of the floor, accentuated by the second pair of legs; the heavy, falling linen; and the dog’s delicate frame as it nestles against the man combine to present a disturbing image of vulnerability.

Artfully EN_Dulge!