Lucian Freud's Masterpiece Stars in
The Paul G. Allen Collection

The Paul G. Allen Collection up for sale with Christie's in New York is set to be the most expensive single-owner sale ever, revealing a hugely impressive collection of works including masterpieces by Brueghel, Turner, Gauguin, Seurat, Klimt, and Bacon. There are so many paintings that stand out, but seeing Lucian Freud's Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau) (1981–83) in London was a highlight for me—an extraordinary painting and surely one of Freud's greatest accomplishments.

Deliberately theatrical through its staging of characters and use of props, Freud's arrangement of figures is derived, in part, from Velázquez's Las Meninas (1656), although the initial inspiration for the painting was, of course, Jean Antoine Watteau's Pierrot Content (c. 1712), owned by Baron Heinrich von Thyssen-Bornemisza.

Caillebotte's Les raboteurs de parquet (c. 1875) also immediately comes to mind when viewing Freud's sumptuous expanse of wooden floorboards spread across the canvas. Freud pays homage to these titans of art history, but, similarly to much of Picasso's finest work, his startling brilliance comes from the way in which he injects these reinterpretations with his deeply personal vision of reality.

It's this forensic and unflinchingly raw depiction of the world that connects the viewer so immediately to Freud the artist. The dripping tap and unruly plasterwork are afforded the same precise treatment as the indoor plant threatening to envelop the figures. The face of each figure is rendered with heavy impasto and flecks of white light shimmer across the surface of their skin.

This is a group portrait—not a family portrait, but an intimate picture of characters from Freud's life. His daughter, Bella, and stepson, Kai, are flanked by two of his lovers, the artist Celia Paul, and Suzy Boyt. Then there is Star, the child on the floor, who was a stand-in for his granddaughter May.

Although cosily bunched together on the bed in a rather playful manner, each of these figures seem to exist in their own world, gazing away from each other. Kai is particularly awkward, almost backing away with his large hands entangled on his lap, whilst Bella, dressed in carnivalesque fashion, strums a mandolin and Suzy theatrically clasps a fan. Unlike the others, Star stares mischievously towards us, activating the group with her jauntily raised knees, as if dancing to the tune of the mandolin—recalling the cheeky little boy kicking the dog in Velazquez's Las Meninas.

Monumental in scale, this was the largest work Freud had made at this stage of his life and also the first time he incorporated more than two figures in a painting. The picture was first exhibited alone at Thomas Agnew & Sons, London in 1983 to much fanfare. Freud's dealer, James Kirkman held the painting in his personal collection for 15 years until it was acquired by Paul Allen.

The painting has enjoyed an active life since, travelling to the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and to London's National Portrait Gallery for major retrospectives over the years. It must be viewed as a cornerstone of Freud's practice.

This would hold its ground alongside masterpieces from any top museum collection in the world, and represents a huge opportunity for a private collector to acquire something truly remarkable. A new auction record for the artist awaits.—[O]