Recognised as one of the leading 20th-century portraitists, Lucian Freud (1922 –2011) was a British painter celebrated for his figurative paintings.
His early career as a painter was influenced by surrealism, but by the early 1950s his often stark paintings tended towards realism.
Freud was an intensely private man and the subjects in paintings are often the closest people in his life including his friends, family, fellow painters, lovers and children.
Key paintings and works on paper spanning Freud’s entire career will show how the artist’s honest depictions of his subjects became more visceral and unflinching over time.
This is the most significant display of paintings by Freud in the north-west for more than 30 years.