On very few occasions, news breaks out at a press conference. But that’s what happened this morning in the Museo Thyssen. The great retrospective of the British painter Lucian Freud was presented to the press, organized together with the National Gallery of London on the occasion of the centenary of his birth (the anniversary was December 8, 2022). Guillermo Solana, artistic director of the art gallery, spoke; the commissioner, Paloma Alarcó, spoke; Marta Rivera de la Cruz, Minister of Culture of the Community of Madrid, spoke; David Dawson, Freud’s assistant for the last two decades of his life and director of the Lucian Freud Archive, spoke; Catherine Lampert, author of the artist’s catalog raisonné, and Daniel F. Herrmann, curator of the National Gallery and curator of the show in London. and he did too Francesca Thyssen, daughter of the baron. Freud portrayed him twice in the 1980s. It was one of the few cases in which the painter accepted commissions. Normally he chose his models: friends, colleagues, wives, lovers, children…
One of the Baron’s portraits was already in the collection of the Thyssen Museum. It was one of the 775 paintings that the Spanish State acquired in 1993 for 350 million dollars. In it (51.1 by 40.8 centimeters), Freud portrays Heini in his holland park studio (London) between 1981-82. She did it close-up. Looks down. Looks sad. Behind it is glimpsed one of the Baron’s paintings, also today in the collection of the Thyssen Museum: ‘Happy Pierrot’, by French painter Jean Antoine Watteau (circa 1712). He is a painter and a painting that obsessed Freud. He hung a reproduction on the wall of his study. Later, he used the painting’s composition and subject matter (the Commedia dell’Arte, Pierrot, Colombine) to paint one of his masterpieces, ‘Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau)’ (1981-83), which belonged to Paul Allen , co-founder of Microsoft, and which was recently auctioned at Christie’s for $86.2 million, Freud’s record.
Years later, in 1985, Lucian Freud would paint a second portrait of Baron Thyssen. This time much bigger: 120.5 by 100.5 centimeters). Pops up full body (only the feet are missing), seated in an armchair with his hands (huge and somewhat disfigured) on his thighs. Next to him a handful of rags, which the artist accumulated in his studio. This was owned by Francesca Thyssen, daughter of the baron. She had it deposited in the Thyssen Museum. But this morning he announced during the press conference that donates it to the museum. I mean, to Spain, because it is a national museum. He is the fifth Freud to become part of Spanish Heritage, along with the other four works in the museum: ‘Reflection with two children (Self-portrait)’, from 1965; ‘Great inside. Paddington’, from 1968-69; ‘Last portrait’, from 1976-77, in addition to the other portrait of the baron.
Francesca explains that she and her children lived with this work at his house in Vienna for about ten years and that he has a very special bond with her. But when he skyrocketed the price of Freud’s works on the market could not bear the cost of insurance. So first he deposited it in the Thyssen Museum and today he has announced that he is donating it to it. The news was received with a standing ovation from the attendees. Guillermo Solana thanked him for the gesture: “It’s much more than we could hope for.”
Apparently Freud and Baron Thyssen cthey got along very well. During the hundreds of hours that she had to pose for the painter in his studio, they kept lively talks about arta common passion. Lampert added that they also enjoyed life and went to trendy nightclubs together.