And the Bridegroom 2001

Lucian Freud made this painting, 'And the Bridegroom,' with thick, visceral strokes of fleshy, earthy hues. I imagine Freud wrestling with this canvas, coaxing these bodies into existence. The painting feels like a site of intense looking. What I notice first is the surface texture, those tangible brushstrokes. The figures are intertwined on a bed. A sense of vulnerability, of exposure, pulses through the scene. The light seems to peel away at their skin. Freud's painting reminds me of Soutine in the way that he builds up the forms with meaty paint, almost like he’s sculpting with the brush. I imagine Freud, eyes narrowed, intensely focused on the rise and fall of flesh, capturing not just what he saw, but what he felt. Each stroke feels deliberate, a kind of excavation of form and emotion. Painters like him are in an ongoing dialogue with the history of art, pushing, pulling, and prodding at the boundaries of representation. It reminds us that painting is a way of seeing, feeling, and thinking – all at once.