Large Interior, London W.9. 1973

Curator: What a wonderfully unsettling piece. Lucian Freud's "Large Interior, London W.9.", dating from 1973. It's quite imposing. Editor: Imposing is one word! Bleak springs to mind. The raw flesh tones, the elderly woman's intense gaze…it feels like a confrontation. And the heavy use of brown creates an almost oppressive atmosphere. Curator: The composition certainly contributes. Freud places the figures within a carefully constructed, almost geometric space. Note how the rigid lines of the room intersect with the organic forms of the bodies. The relationship between the seated woman and the reclining figure is echoed by that interplay. And that blunt rendering of skin – no idealization here, just pure materiality. Editor: Precisely! And I read that materiality as a political statement. Freud consistently resisted the glamorous depiction of the human form. Instead, he foregrounded the realities of aging, of bodies marked by time and experience. This, in a society obsessed with youth, is a profoundly subversive act. Don’t you think that his Jewish origins as an immigrant from Germany could play a role? Curator: Subversion, perhaps, though I also see a ruthless honesty. There’s no narrative offered, merely the juxtaposition of bodies and objects within a contained space. Consider, for instance, the mortar and pestle on the floor – what does it signify? I am more intrigued by the shapes; how they relate formally within this composition, within their spatial and chromatic situation. Editor: It could represent medicine or remedies; that could point at social circumstances or even Freud’s feelings in relation to the older person depicted in the work. Either way, its placement adds to the sense of disquiet, of things unsaid. Freud creates an atmosphere charged with unspoken tension, mirroring the artist’s often turbulent personal life. The viewer cannot look away. The formal starkness accentuates this reading in relation to external reality and lived experience. Curator: Well, yes. It is hard to turn away, as the composition has so many fascinating perspectives that speak of the relations of their individual shapes as formal expression. Freud presents, with the same exacting intensity of depiction to a whole other story. I can keep looking for an endless amount of time. Editor: It’s this relentless commitment to revealing the unvarnished truth, both personal and societal, that makes the piece a compelling social and personal commentary in an ever changing socio-political reality of recent history.