8 December 2012 marks 90 years since the birth of Lucian Freud and this week’s Work of the Week, Girl with a White Dog 1950-1 is considered to be amongst the most important paintings of his extensive career.
Lucian Freud
Girl with a White Dog 1950-1
Oil on canvas
support: 762 x 1016 mm frame: 954 x 1200 x 92 mm
Purchased 1952 Tate
Softly-rumpled cloths and the furrow-browed dog invite us into this intimate, domestic moment. Our comfort may be met with awkwardness, as the fleshy ease of the semi-robed female intensifies our position as observers of a highly personal moment between artist, sitter and dog.
A close relationship with sitters was often important for Lucian Freud, and in this highly charged scene sits the artist’s pregnant wife.