Ib 1984

Lucian Freud painted this oil on canvas, titled 'Ib', and it's held in a private collection. Look at the way he builds up the face with layers of paint! It’s like he’s sculpting with color. There’s this tension between the raw, fleshy tones and the almost muted palette. The paint is thick, you can practically feel the texture. Notice the brushstrokes around the cheek – how they almost seem to map the contours of the face. It's so physical. You can see how the material becomes the person, or vice versa. It reminds me of some of Van Gogh’s portraits, that same intensity, that focus on the inner life made visible through the paint itself. With Freud, nothing is concealed, and maybe that’s where the beauty lies. The honesty and, dare I say it, the ambiguity.