Daughter of Lucian Freud: “I remember bitterness and pain” | NDR.de – Culture

by Torben Steenbuck

Esther Freud lives with her family in Dartmouth Park, a quiet district in the north of London. The houses here are chic, but not classy. Lots of beige brick, white bay windows. The Freuds’ house is a three-story detached house with high windows facing the street and white stucco on the facade.

Esther’s son Albi opens it. After a brief moment of confusion because Esther had forgotten the appointment, they go up to her office. It is a public holiday in England, so she has taken the day off, otherwise she would be writing right now – like every morning. “I inherited a pretty strict work ethic from my father. He showed us as children how happy it can be if you work every day on what you love. That inspired me a lot,” says Esther.

Essay about great-uncle Sigmund Freud

Esther Freud is the daughter of the painter Lucian Freud and the great-granddaughter of the psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud. She herself is a writer.

Only a few weeks ago, Freud published an essay about her great-uncle, Sigmund. Despite her initial inner resistance: “I said at the time that I couldn’t say anything about Sigmund because he was never spoken about in my childhood. But then I thought that his absence in my family was also an exciting topic.”

Esther Freud, however, prefers to write novels and plays. Her breakthrough came in 1995 with her autobiographical debut novel “Marrakesh”. It is about a hippie mother who seeks a free life with her daughters in Morocco in the late 1960s. The novel was made into a film a few years later with Kate Winslet in the lead role. Esther Freud’s next novel will also be autobiographical: “My Sister and Other Lovers”, which is due to be published in mid-2025.

Next there is a short tour of her house, very exciting as there is a lot of art by Esther’s father Lucian Freud on the walls.

No traditional family life with father Lucian Freud

Lucian Freud had numerous affairs, was married twice and had 13 children.

Esther Freud is one of 13 children of the painter Lucian Freud, who had many affairs and several marriages during his lifetime. Esther only became close to her father quite late. “I didn’t grow up with him because he didn’t lead a traditional family life. I grew up with my mother and my sister. We visited him regularly as children; he lived in his studio,” she says.

Their shared enthusiasm for art later connected them. Esther describes her father Lucian as a rather reserved artist. “He didn’t talk to me much about his art. He had an incredible ability to adapt to each person individually and to communicate with them in a very individual way. That’s why everyone got a different Lucian – and I got the one that suited me. But he didn’t philosophize about his art. He didn’t analyze it, and when I heard people do that, I thought… I don’t know if that’s true… For example, when people said: ‘Of course, the eggs have something to do with the uterus or with this and that…’ I then thought, maybe, maybe not. I mean, he never talked like that. Maybe he did it with other people, definitely not with me,” says Esther.

Hope to find her father’s painting

Esther Freud has a special memory of the time when a portrait of Francis Bacon, painted by her father, was stolen in Berlin in 1988. She went to the opening of the exhibition because her father did not want to return to his birthplace and the place where his Jewish family had been expelled. “I remember the bitterness and pain with which he spoke about it. He was disappointed that the people who were supposed to look after the painting had neglected it. He was in his 60s when the painting was stolen. It is sad that it did not turn up in my father’s lifetime, but I think and hope that it will turn up again at some point in my life,” says Esther.

The whole story behind the stolen Freud painting, and whether it can still be found, can be heard in the NDR Kultur true crime podcast “Art Crimes – The Search for Bacon’s Head”. All episodes are available in the ARD audio library.

More information

Lawyer Peter Raue knows the art world like no other and was close to the disappearance of the painting “Portrait of Francis Bacon”. more

A hot lead leads the investigation to Rügen. Will the picture of Lucian Freud, missing since 1988, finally be found there? more

Who stole the picture of Lucian Freud? The trail leads to Rügen. And all of a sudden there is a new clue. more

The hosts Lenore and Torben become more and more entangled in the research. A call to the art detective Arthur Brand could help – and he actually has an idea. more

The National Socialists in particular confiscated and auctioned off numerous works of art and possessions of their Jewish victims. more