Small Portait 2001

Here's a Lucian Freud portrait, made with thick slabs of oil paint. I wonder how long Freud studied the face to conjure it up like that, almost as if he were excavating the face, one brushstroke at a time. Look how he builds up those fleshy tones with buttery yellows, oranges, and browns, almost like a delicious cake. Then he carves out the features with decisive strokes. You know, paint has this incredible ability to capture the weight and texture of skin, and Freud really knows how to use it. See that little dab of white on the forehead? It’s just a tiny highlight, but it brings the whole face to life! His portraits always remind me of Francis Bacon; both artists create these really intimate, raw, and sometimes unsettling images of the human form. They make you think about what it means to be alive, to be human. We are all just passing through, borrowing from each other, building on what came before.