Woman in a Grey Sweater 1988

Lucian Freud made this painting, Woman in a Grey Sweater, using oil on wood, and it's fascinating. He’s not trying to pretty things up; instead, he's digging into the realness of the human form. It's like he’s wrestling with the paint, trying to capture something essential. I'm really drawn to how Freud uses color here. It’s almost like he's building up the face, bit by bit, with these thick, fleshy tones. The paint is laid on so deliberately, you can almost feel the weight of it. There is a really nice brush mark on the forehead, just there, where the light catches – it’s like a scar, adding to the story of her face. I'm reminded of Jenny Saville's uncompromising portraits. Freud's work, like Saville's, challenges our notions of beauty and representation. It’s about embracing the grit and the mess, finding something profound in the everyday. It's a conversation that keeps evolving.