Lucian Freud People Quotations

I would wish my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them.

I paint people not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.

I paint people, not because of what they are like, not exactly in spite of what they are like, but how they happen to be.

I want paint to work as flesh... my portraits to be of the people, not like them. Not having a look of the sitter, being them ... As far as I am concerned the paint is the person. I want it to work for me just as flesh does.

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.

I've always wanted to create drama in my pictures, which is why I paint people. It's people who have brought drama to pictures from the beginning. The simplest human gestures tell stories.