Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud (1922-2011), Artist.

This self-portrait is a rare example of an unfinished painting by the late Lucian Freud. Thought to be painted in the 1980s, the painting demonstrates the artist's method of developing the composition by working out from the centre of the face; while the head and hair are painted in detail, the chin area remains incomplete. Although the self-portrait was a consistent thread running through Freud's work from his teenage drawings until the very end of his life, it presented a challenge for the artist, as he reflected in 1992: 'The way you paint yourself you've got to try and paint yourself as another person. Looking in the mirror is a strain in a way that looking at other people isn't at all.'