CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 4/8/2020

In his self-portraits, Lucian Freud remains illustrious yet unknown

"Interior with Plant, Reflection Listening (Self-portrait)" (1967–68) is reproduced from Lucian Freud: The Self-portraits, published to accompany the "emotionally piercing" exhibition currently on hiatus at MFA Boston, en route from Royal Academy of Arts, London. "Freud always enjoyed Degas’s claim that he wanted to be ‘illustrious and unknown,'" Sebastian Smee writes. "He was conscious, I think, that for all the emphasis people place on the idea of art as self-expression, there is an ineluctable shame for any artist in being 'understood.' Hence his reluctance until late in life to be interviewed. The self-portraits often seem to be saying: 'You want to know me? Good luck.'"

Lucian Freud, "Interior with Plant, Reflection Listening, (Self-portrait)," 1967–68. Oil on canvas, 47.9 x 47.9”. Private collection. © The Lucian Freud Archive / Bridgeman Images. Exhibition organized by the Royal Academy of Arts, London, in collaboration with the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.