The Lucian Freud: Works from the UBS Art Collection exhibition at the UBS Art Gallery offers a rare opportunity to witness some of the most intimate and profound works of one of the greatest portrait artists of the 20th century, Lucian Freud. Showcasing over fifty works, including Freud’s late etchings and two significant paintings, the exhibition highlights the depth of Freud’s artistic legacy and his unrelenting exploration of the human condition.

Freud, celebrated as the most distinguished portraitist of his time, had a distinct and sometimes unsettling approach to depicting his sitters. His portraits are raw, honest, and unsentimental, offering an unvarnished view of the human body and soul.

This exhibition, drawn from the renowned UBS Art Collection, reflects these qualities, inviting viewers to engage deeply with Freud’s work. One of the standout pieces of the exhibition is “Double Portrait” (1988-90), which opens the show. It depicts a woman, one of Freud’s regular sitters, alongside Pluto, the Freud family dog.

This painting encapsulates many of Freud’s signature elements: an intimate, almost intrusive portrayal of the sitter, the tension of the moment, and the palpable discomfort of the prolonged hours of posing. The sitter’s awkward pose, coupled with the dog’s restless energy, adds to the tension between the subjects. Freud’s penetrating gaze seems to strip away any artifice, capturing not just the physical appearance but also the underlying emotions of his subjects. This gaze is both fascinating and unsettling, a hallmark of Freud’s work that compels viewers to reflect on their own perception of vulnerability and exposure.

A key element of the exhibition is Freud’s etchings, a significant but often overlooked part of his oeuvre. Freud’s etching process was as meticulous and demanding as his painting practice. Standing in front of an upright copper plate on an easel, Freud would painstakingly create his etchings during extended sittings, focusing on the same obsessive attention to detail as in his paintings.

These etchings, created over 18 years between 1982 and 2000, represent the most productive period of Freud’s graphic work and form the majority of this exhibition. Although Freud began experimenting with etching in the 1940s, it wasn’t until the early 1980s that he fully embraced the medium. His rediscovery of etching came when he was invited to create a special edition print for a monograph, sparking a renewed interest in the medium that would become a vital part of his artistic process. Freud’s etchings, like his paintings, offer a raw, unsentimental view of his subjects. Many of his sitters were close to him, such as his studio assistant David Dawson or performance artist Leigh Bowery. Despite these personal connections, Freud’s portraits reveal little about the sitters’ professions or personalities. Instead, they are intimate studies of the human form, stripped of any extraneous details.

Freud’s etchings often depict his subjects with an unflinching realism, capturing the lines, wrinkles, and imperfections of their skin in meticulous detail. His linear constructions, combined with his use of cropping, create a heightened sense of tension and introspection in these works.

Another compelling aspect of Freud’s work, which the exhibition highlights, is the autobiographical nature of his art. Freud’s portraits were deeply personal, often depicting people from his close circle, such as friends, family members, or long-term acquaintances. His works were not just representations of others but also reflections of his own life and experiences. Freud himself admitted that his paintings were records of his observations, making his portraits a form of self-exploration. His choice of subjects, the intensity with which he portrayed them, and the long hours he spent working with them all point to a highly personal connection between artist and sitter.

The UBS Art Collection, which houses these remarkable works, is one of the world’s most important corporate art collections, featuring over 30,000 works by influential contemporary artists. The UBS Art Gallery, located in the lobby of the UBS Midtown New York Headquarters, offers the public a chance to engage with these works.

The current exhibition of Freud’s work is part of the gallery’s rotating program, which hosts several temporary exhibitions each year. Lucian Freud: Works from the UBS Art Collection is an extraordinary exhibition that not only showcases Freud’s mastery of portraiture but also offers a deeper understanding of the artist’s complex relationship with his subjects. Whether through the boldness of his etchings or the emotional depth of his paintings, Freud’s work demands the viewer’s attention and reflection. It is an opportunity to experience the raw power of one of the most influential artists of the last century, whose ability to capture the human form continues to resonate in the art world today.

On view from February 1, 2024
UBS Art Gallery at 1285 Avenue of the Americas