Since the model he so faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture... it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model.
Lucian FreudRead
The painter must give a completely free rein to any feeling or sensations he may have and reject nothing to which he is naturally drawn.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Artists should express their true feelings and instincts without censorship.
This quote by Lucian Freud emphasizes the importance of authenticity in art. It suggests that a painter, or any artist, should allow their emotions and sensations to flow freely into their work, embracing every instinctual choice without fear of rejection. By doing so, the artist not only creates genuine pieces but also connects deeply with their own inner world and the audience.
Themes
ArtCreativityExpressionEmotionAuthenticity
In practice
Example use cases
During an art workshop, I quoted Freud to encourage participants to explore their feelings in their paintings.
More from Lucian Freud
All quotes βWhen I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so.
Lucian FreudRead
It is the only point of getting up every morning: to paint, to make something good, to make something even better than before, not to give up, to compete, to be ambitious.
Lucian FreudRead
The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art
Lucian FreudRead
I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.
Lucian FreudRead
I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness.
Lucian FreudRead
Similar quotes
A portrait, to be a work of art, neither must nor may resemble the sitter... one must paint its atmosphere.
Umberto BoccioniRead
Writing is a socially acceptable form of schizophrenia.
E. L. DoctorowRead
Birds sat on the telegraph wires that spanned the river as the black notes sit on a staff of music.
Rebecca WestRead
I alter some things, eliminate and try again until I am satisfied. Then begins the mental working out of this material in its breadth, its narrowness, its height and depth.
Ludwig Van BeethovenRead
It's a bit naff, but there is something exciting about pulling a bit of pottery out of the ground that's 2,000 years old.
Mary BeardRead
Part of the reason that these attempts at explanation fail, I think, is that photographers, like all artists, choose their medium because it allows them the most fully truthful expression of their vision... as Robert Frost told a person who asked him what one of his poems meant, 'You want me to say it worse?'
Robert AdamsRead