The Painter's Room 1944

Lucian Freud made this painting, The Painter's Room, with oil on canvas, but when is anybody's guess! What strikes me most about the painting is its vivid colours. The clashing reds of the Zebra's stripes and the crumpled cloth on the floor, are so different from the more muted tones of the sofa and the wall. The orange of the floor really pops. I love that Freud has made the palm tree so dark, that against the cool blue sky behind, it almost appears black. What is going on here? Surreal and unsettling, there's an odd tension to the scene. It seems like a dream, and the composition has a theatrical quality. The zebra’s head emerging from the blue wall is particularly striking, and maybe symbolic of something… Many artists have been inspired by the Surrealists, Freud must have been too.