I don't want any colour to be noticeable... I don't want it to operate in the modernist sense as colour, something independent... Full, saturated colours have an emotional significance I want to avoid. Lucian Freud More Quotes by Lucian Freud More Quotes From Lucian Freud I could never put anything into a picture that wasn't actually there in front of me. That would be a pointless lie, a mere bit of artfulness. Lucian Freud mere would-be lying The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art. Eliot said that art is the escape from personality, which I think is right. We know that Velázquez embezzled money from the Spanish court and wanted power and so on, but you can't see this in his art. Lucian Freud character art thinking The painter must give a completely free rein to any feeling or sensations he may have and reject nothing to which he is naturally drawn. Lucian Freud artist feelings giving A painter's tastes must grow out of what so obsesses him in life that he never has to ask himself what it is suitable for him to do in art. Lucian Freud obsession taste art The only way I could work properly was by using the absolute maximum of observation and concentration that I could possible muster. Lucian Freud observation concentration way The model should only serve the very private function for the painter of providing the starting point for his excitement Lucian Freud excitement starting artist Losing as much money as I can get hold of is an instant solution to my economic problems. Lucian Freud gambling problem losing The only secret I can claim to have is concentration, and that's something that can't be taught. Lucian Freud taught claims secret The process of creation becomes necessary to the painter perhaps more than is the picture. The process in fact is habit-forming Lucian Freud creation habit facts I think half the point of painting a picture is that you don't know what will happen... that if painters did know what was going to happen they wouldn't bother to do it. Lucian Freud painting half thinking When I look at a body it gives me choice of what to put in a painting, what will suit me and what won't. There is a distinction between fact and truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so. Lucian Freud choices doe giving The paintings that really excite me have an erotic element or side to them irrespective of subject matter Lucian Freud erotic elements matter The character of the artist doesn't enter into the nature of the art Lucian Freud artist character art I work from the people that interest me, and that I care about, in rooms that I live in and know. I use the people to invent my pictures, and I can work more freely when they are there. Lucian Freud care people rooms The painter's obsession with his subject is all that he needs to drive him to work. Lucian Freud obsession artist needs I have a hatred of habit and routine. And what dogs love is just that. They like regular everything, and I don't have regular anything. I have a timetable, but no routine. Lucian Freud hatred dog love-is The paintings live because their creator has been passionately attentive to their theme, and his attention has left something for us to look at. It seems a sort of miracle. Lucian Freud miracle attention looks The painting is always done very much with [the model's] co-operation. The problem with painting a nude, of course, is that it deepens the transaction. You can scrap a painting of someone's face and it imperils the sitter's self-esteem less than scrapping a painting of the whole naked body. Lucian Freud body self-esteem faces A painter must think of everything he sees as being there entirely for his own use and pleasure. Lucian Freud being-there use thinking And, since the model he faithfully copies is not going to be hung up next to the picture, since the picture is going to be there on its own, it is of no interest whether it is an accurate copy of the model. Lucian Freud next interest artist
