RIP Lucien Freud

One of our greatest modern artists.

Our friendship survived me being his sitter. Almost the last time I saw him, earlier this year, we were talking about Soho in the Fifties. I ventured that, though it seemed very glamorous to read about, no doubt it had been less so in reality. “Oh no,” he replied, adding: “It was marvellous being taken seriously for behaving ridiculously.” Another afternoon, he told me: “I’m not frightened in the slightest of death; I’ve had a lovely time.”
I believe that Lucian’s work will still be exhibited and admired hundreds of years hence. He and Bacon will be to 20th-century British art what Constable and Turner were to their time.