Since the model he so faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture... it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model.
Lucian FreudRead
I've always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It's people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote emphasizes the dramatic narratives that human expressions and gestures convey in art.
Lucian Freud expresses his desire to infuse drama into his artwork by focusing on people, as it is their emotions and interactions that bring life and storytelling to a painting. He highlights how even simple gestures can reveal profound stories, underlining the importance of the human element in art.
Themes
ArtDramaHuman GesturesStoriesPaintingPeople
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used when discussing the importance of human connection in art at a gallery opening.
More from Lucian Freud
All quotes →When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.
Lucian FreudRead
It is the only point of getting up every morning: to paint, to make something good, to make something even better than before, not to give up, to compete, to be ambitious.
Lucian FreudRead
The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art
Lucian FreudRead
I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.
Lucian FreudRead
I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.
Lucian FreudRead
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