Lucien Freud at the National Portrait Gallery

[Gandalf]

That sounds like a grand plan indeed. I hope you manage to enjoy yourself. And of course watch out for the paintings where the eyes follow you around the room.

[Beanz]

That sounds like a grand plan indeed. I hope you manage to enjoy yourself. And of course watch out for the paintings where the eyes follow you around the room.

Thank you Miles I shall endeavor to do so. I have never seen a Freud not on a page or screen and I could not turn down the chance to see what basically amounts to his life's work all in one place. Until his death last year he was widely recognised as Britain's greatest living portrait painter and is the last of the old school having even painted Francis Bacon himself. Like Bacon he was a sometimes dark and intense individual whose great gift was to reveal lines, flaws and fears that many of his sitters thought they had kept hidden. So acute was his talent and keen his eye that he regulary revealed a mastery of his medium capable of making lesser painters seem rather pointless.

[Gandalf]

That sounds like a grand plan indeed. I hope you manage to enjoy yourself. And of course watch out for the paintings where the eyes follow you around the room.

Thank you Miles I shall endeavor to do so. I have never seen a Freud not on a page or screen and I could not turn down the chance to see what basically amounts to his life's work all in one place. Until his death last year he was widely recognised as Britain's greatest living portrait painter and is the last of the old school having even painted Francis Bacon himself. Like Bacon he was a sometimes dark and intense individual whose great gift was to reveal lines, flaws and fears that many of his sitters thought they had kept hidden. So acute was his talent and keen his eye that he regulary revealed a mastery of his medium capable of making lesser painters seem rather pointless.

Sounds interesting. I know Freud's name, but don't know very much about his work at all. I am all for brooding dark people with an affinity for lines and flaws, though by the sounds of it I don't think I would have liked to have been a subject of his. It wouldn't be nice for the faltering ego to have all those macabre qualities exemplified before oneself. 'Lucien, is this how you get your kicks?' I would utter in an obstinate manner and maybe heave a camp sigh.

Going to a gallery is a good idea and I will keep it in mind. That would keep me occupied for a while this summer. Besides the daily newspaper and eating a lot I don't have much of an itinerary worked out. Maybe a day at the cricket too. With my papers. And food.

[Beanz]

That sounds like a grand plan indeed. I hope you manage to enjoy yourself. And of course watch out for the paintings where the eyes follow you around the room.

Thank you Miles I shall endeavor to do so. I have never seen a Freud not on a page or screen and I could not turn down the chance to see what basically amounts to his life's work all in one place. Until his death last year he was widely recognised as Britain's greatest living portrait painter and is the last of the old school having even painted Francis Bacon himself. Like Bacon he was a sometimes dark and intense individual whose great gift was to reveal lines, flaws and fears that many of his sitters thought they had kept hidden. So acute was his talent and keen his eye that he regulary revealed a mastery of his medium capable of making lesser painters seem rather pointless.

Sounds interesting. I know Freud's name, but don't know very much about his work at all. I am all for brooding dark people with an affinity for lines and flaws, though by the sounds of it I don't think I would have liked to have been a subject of his. It wouldn't be nice for the faltering ego to have all those macabre qualities exemplified before oneself. 'Lucien, is this how you get your kicks?' I would utter in an obstinate manner and maybe heave a camp sigh.

Going to a gallery is a good idea and I will keep it in mind. That would keep me occupied for a while this summer. Besides the daily newspaper and eating a lot I don't have much of an itinerary worked out. Maybe a day at the cricket too. With my papers. And food.

A day at the cricket, what could be more English. You shall be able to sup a decent cup of tea which is more than I can say for the thin hot stuff on the train. I never thought tea could be thin. It must be the milk substitute thing that comes in a little plastic shrew's potty.