Double Portrait 1986

Lucian Freud made this incredible intimate portrait of a man and his dog using oil on canvas. You can almost feel the artist's breath on the canvas, as he captures this moment of intimacy. I imagine Freud, brush in hand, carefully building up the layers of paint, trying to capture not just what he sees, but what he feels. Look at the way he models the flesh. There is an almost sculptural quality to it. See those hands, so weary. I love the folds of the dog’s skin and that brindle pattern. You can tell he's really looking, carefully observing every detail. It reminds me of other paintings of people in quiet moments of repose, like those by Courbet, and it also makes me think of Alice Neel's portraits - there is something so raw and honest about the way Freud paints his sitters. It's this ongoing exchange between artists across time, each inspiring and challenging the other to see the world in new ways.