Gray gelding

"Gray gelding" - one of the later works of Lucien Freud, which was wedged between the slender rows of naked human bodies, it seems, for some misunderstanding. At first glance at this canvas, it's even hard to believe that it belongs to the brush of the same Freud, who on his canvases removes the shell from the models behind the shell, leaving in the end even the body - just one core. And only when there is an unconscious desire to touch the image (an amazing feature that unites most of the artist's works), all doubts fall away - this is indeed Freud.

Unlike people, in relation to whom the artist in his works, judgments and definitions often was quite ruthless, he treated the animals all his life with great care and tenderness. Which, however, is not surprising, because in a certain period of Freud's life, animals were his only friends.

When Freud's family moved from Germany to England, the boy withdrew into himself for a long time. Lucien did not know English well, which was why his contemporaries teased him, and then he began to seek solace in communicating with nature. Since then, horses and dogs have surrounded the artist all his life. He often stacked his dogs next to sleeping naked models (1, 2), creating in the pictures an elusive aura of serenity and full trust.

When Lucien was carried away by painting, the parents of the future artist took it with great enthusiasm. So big, then recalled Freud, that he even began to think about abandoning the artist's career and becoming a jockey or veterinarian. And, despite the fact that the painting still prevailed, the horses were forever almost the strongest of his love. In the sixties Freud spent every spare moment at the races, and later often went to the stables of the Palace cavalry, drawing royal mounts.

Author: Evgenia Sidelnikova