A series of alternating online lunchtime lectures and in-person gallery visits to mark 100 years since the birth of the artist Lucian Freud. This series is run in partnership with the Lyons Learning Project and Insiders/Outsiders.
Lunchtime lectures begin at 1pm; in-person visits meet at 2.30pm. Streaming links for online events will be sent out shortly before each event. See below for full details.
JR has an ethical ticketing policy and is offering free tickets to the lunchtime lectures, but if you can afford it, please donate to support our work. We are proposing denominations of 18 – the numerical value of the Hebrew word 'chai', meaning 'life'.
Header image: (L-R) Stephen, Sigmund and Lucian Freud outside 20 Maresfield Gardens, 1938 © The Lucian Freud Archive
Freud family, 1898 (Front row: Sophie, Anna and Ernst; middle row: Oliver and Martha, plus Minna Bernays; back row: Martin and Sigmund)
Thursday 6 October
Lunchtime Lecture: Freuds’ War
Historian Dr Helen Fry charts the story of the Freud family following their departure from Austria as refugees during World War II. Despite his worldwide reputation as the father of modern psychology, Sigmund Freud’s security in his native Vienna changed overnight when Hitler’s forces annexed Austria in 1938. It was after becoming refugees that the Freuds’ story took a fascinating turn. Following their dramatic escape from Austria, Sigmund’s son Martin and grandson Walter enlisted in the British Forces. In 1943, Walter volunteered for Special Operations Executive, a secret British World War II organisation, which sent him back to Austria to spy behind enemy lines.
Dr Fry has written over 25 books, including Spymaster: The Man Who Saved MI6, Churchill’s German Army, and the bestselling The Walls Have Ears: The Greatest Intelligence Operation of WWII. Freuds’ War draws on previously unpublished family archives and photographs, including excerpts from Sigmund’s diary, to give an insight into the renowned family’s life in both pre-war Vienna and WWII Britain.
1pm. FREE or suggested donation. ONLINE.
Freud Museum London © K Urbaniak
Thursday 13 October
Gallery Tour: The Painter and His Family
See the Freud Museum’s exhibition Lucian Freud: The Painter and His Family up close and personal on this guided tour led by Jamie Ruers, art historian, author and programmer at the Freud Museum. This is the first display of Freud’s work in the home of his grandfather Sigmund and aunt Anna. The show explores the artist’s childhood, family and friends, celebrating the lesser-known aspects of his life. These include his love of reading and lifelong fascination with horses, as well as his relationships with the former occupants of 20 Maresfield Gardens. Alongside his paintings and drawings, see Freud’s illustrated childhood letters, books he owned and book covers he designed. His sole surviving sculpture, Three-Legged Horse (1937), and early painting, Palm Tree (1944), will also be on display.
2.30pm. £15. Freud Museum London, NW3 5SX.
Thursday 20 October
Lunchtime Lecture: Freud’s Juvenilia
Elizabeth Lamle, a doctoral student in the field of art history and migration, who is currently working on a collaborative study of Lucian Freud’s juvenilia, examines key works from the National Portrait Gallery’s unexplored archive of Lucian Freud’s early drawings and correspondence. With material ranging from 1928 to 1951, she’ll share new insights into the development of Freud’s language, cultural identity and artistic practice.
1pm. FREE or suggested donation. ONLINE.
Reflection with Two Children (Self-Portrait), 1965 © The Lucian Freud Archive
Thursday 27 October
Lecture and Gallery Visit: Lucian Freud – New Perspectives
Art historian and Insiders/Outsiders’ founding director Monica Bohm-Duchen delivers this illustrated lecture ahead of a visit to Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery. This is the first major exhibition of Freud’s work in a decade and brings together over 60 paintings spanning more than 70 years of the artist’s life. Bohm-Duchen’s talk will take place at St Martin-in-the-Fields, after which she’ll join the group as we walk over to the National Gallery and explore the exhibition in person.
2.30pm. £25. St Martin-in-the-Fields, WC2N 4JH & National Gallery, WC2N 5DN.
Thursday 3 November
Lunchtime Lecture: Lucian Freud – New Perspectives
Due to illness, the in-person lecture by Monica Bohm-Duchen about Lucian Freud scheduled for Thursday 27 October has been postponed and will now take the form of a longer lunchtime lecture on Zoom on Thursday 3 November. Bohm-Duchen will set the artworks currently on display in the major Freud retrospective at the National Gallery in the wider context of his life and career.
1pm. FREE or suggested donation. ONLINE.