Isaiah Berlin 1997

Lucian Freud made this drawing of Isaiah Berlin with charcoal, a material that gets right to the point. The charcoal renders this face like raw data, and it’s interesting how the marks build up; you can almost feel the give and take between the artist and the paper, each mark a decision, a correction, or maybe even a surrender to the process. Look closely, and you’ll see how the charcoal gathers in the hollows of the eyes and beneath the brow, creating deep, shadowed pockets. It’s these areas of concentrated darkness that give the portrait its weight and intensity. This reminds me of a Cy Twombly drawing – not in style, but in the way both artists allow the hand to roam and explore the surface. What both of them do so well is leave the marks visible, so the viewer becomes a witness to the artistic process. And isn’t that what art is all about, really? An invitation to see the world in a different way, to embrace ambiguity, and to find beauty in the unexpected.