Lucian Freud- After Cezanne

The artist originally intended this figure to be portrayed from the waist down only, with her arms and the tray suggesting the presence of an attendant. Later, the extension at upper left was added to accommodate the whole standing figure. Originally, she was also clothed, but Freud painted over the gown. It is possible to discern changes in the surfaces of the paint in some areas. This attendant figure makes the most direct link with Cézanne's Afternoon in Naples.

Because the audience's viewpoint of this scene is at such an extreme angle, Freud has ensured that the features of his figures are distorted and, occasionally, unwieldy. This is most dramatic in the case of the main female protagonist. Turning her head to the right, her strong nose and mouth are offset against a fleshly torso. This and the intensity of her gaze again lead us to question the relationships implied in Freud's painting.

In focusing on the reclining male and female figures, this detail shows that they are painted in an entirely different manner. The creamy palette chosen by the artist for the female's fleshy form contrasts starkly with the sinewy man. The male's colouring is darker, his extremities defined with accents of red. Freud's painterly analysis of flesh is clinical and unromanticised. His work is about vulnerability combined with defiance. In positioning the angled male figure Freud has deliberately emphasised his penis against the white sheets.

The model for this figure was Freud's son. It is not unusual for Lucian Freud to work with a model with whom he has a direct relationship. In the past his subjects have also been close to each other. But for this painting Freud's son, one of his past models, and her friend are unknown to each other. This may be a source of the factor sense of unease in the scene. The male figure's features are gaunt and have been 'chiselled' in paint by Freud.

The upturned chair contributes to the sense of disorder in this scene; by its placement, Freud emphasises the discord between the two main figures. As with many of the objects portrayed here, the chair is one of the artist's own. Freud has paid particular attention to the upholstery, the tacks and the padding to ensure that this chair has a real weight and physical presence. Minutiae such as the hanging castor wheels, indentations in the mattress and the mussed sheets encourage speculation about After Cézanne.

Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud’s After Cézanne is a paraphrase or variation on the theme of Paul Cézanne’s Afternoon in Naples. The few paraphrase paintings in Freud’s output represent in-depth examinations of the work of certain great artists with whom he wishes to enter into dialogue. Although After Cézanne is related to Afternoon in Naples, Freud said the pictures are more akin to ‘cousins’. They differ in their scale and painterly treatment and in the emphasis placed on figures and objects. Freud’s painting is a very contemporary one, in which he explores issues of dependence and independence, sexual engagement and ambivalence, alienation and loneliness.	Freud operates a system of ‘day pictures’ and ‘night pictures’, depending on when the models are available to sit for him and whether there is daylight or artificial light. After Cézanne was Freud’s principal ‘day picture’ which he painted in nine months from December 1999 to August 2000. Freud worked the painting out on the canvas, first in charcoal and then in paint. He initially had a large rectangular canvas, but added a small section to accommodate the upper half of the maid servant’s figure.	Freud is considered the foremost figurative painter working in the European tradition in the last half century. He lives and works in London. Born in Berlin in 1922, his father was the youngest son of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis. He moved to England with his family in 1933 and became a naturalised British citizen in 1939. A 24 page booklet about this acquisition, entitled Lucian Freud: After Cézanne, is available in the Gallery shop and at ngashop.com.au. More >> Main Image: Lucian Freud After Cézanne 1999-2000 oil on canvas 214.0 x 215.0 cm (irregular) National Gallery of Australia Purchased with the assistance of Members of the National Gallery of Australia Foundation, including David Coe, John Schaeffer and Kerry Stokes AO 2001

Paul Cézanne

Paul Cézanne painted several versions of an erotic fantasy, a scene in a courtesan’s boudoir or a bordello in which there is a mood of sexual indifference and perhaps farce. He called them Afternoon in Naples, evoking the notion, common at the time, that Italy was a place of freedom, sensuality and pleasure. These paintings were intended to shock, a reference to the famous painting Olympia by Manet, which scandalised the French Salon in 1865. Cézanne submitted his first Afternoon in Naples to the Salon of 1866, where it was rejected - as the artist intended. Lucian Freud acquired a version (1872-75) at a New York auction in 1999. The National Gallery’s version (c.1875) was acquired in 1985.

Top: Paul Cézanne
Afternoon in Naples
L'Après-midi à Naples
1872–75
oil on canvas
30.0 x 40.0 cm
Collection of Lucian Freud

Bottom: Paul Cézanne
Afternoon in Naples
L'Après-midi à Naples c.1875
oil on canvas
37.0 x 45.0 cm
National Gallery of Australia
Purchased 1985

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