W hat does it mean to be seen by Lucian Freud? Painter Sophie de Stempel reflects on sitting for Freud in the 1980s, recalling the prolonged scrutiny, technical precision and psychological intensity that shaped Blond Girl on a Bed (1987). Over months of sustained observation, Freud transformed the reclining nude into something weighty and immediate — flesh responsive to gravity, paint built into dense, tactile passages, the studio environment rendered with equal conviction. De Stempel remembers the silence, the stillness, and the sensation that every inch of her presence was being translated into paint.
Her reflections also illuminate an earlier turning point in Freud’s career: A Young Painter (1954), the portrait of fellow artist Ken Brazier created during a period of personal upheaval. In that work, Freud’s commitment to portraiture deepened into an exploration of human presence rather than likeness alone. Together, these paintings trace the evolution of one of the 20th century’s most uncompromising figurative painters — from finely wrought early surfaces to the sculptural authority of his later nudes — revealing how persistence, intensity and time shaped images that continue to captivate collectors and historians alike. These two contrasting portraits are highlights on offer in the Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction taking place at Replica Shoes ’s London on 4 March.
