Lucien Freud's last work to go on display

[September 20, 2011]  LONDON (AP) -- The last work by Lucien Freud will be shown for the first time as part of an exhibition in London showcasing the late realist painter's portraits.

Freud was painting the piece, "Portrait of the Hound 2011," shortly before he died on July 20 at the age of 88.

London's National Portrait Gallery says the unfinished nude showing Freud's assistant with his dog will be among the more than 100 works to go on display in a show opening in February 2012.

The gallery said Tuesday the show, called Lucien Freud Portraits, is the result of years of planning between the gallery and Freud. The exhibition will focus on Freud's portraiture and rarely-seen paintings of the artist's lovers, family and friends, the gallery added.

Exhibition curator Sarah Howgate said Freud had been working on "Portrait of the Hound" for four years and was "taking his time" with the piece.

"He had continued working on it until he was too frail to carry on, and it was left in the artist's studio when he died," she said.

Howgate met with Freud to discuss the show just three weeks before his death.

"Like any artist, he was most excited about the most recent work he was painting," she said of the artist's last work.

[Associated Press]

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