Late Masterpiece by Lucian Freud, Ria, Naked Portrait at Auction for the first Time

Ria, Naked Portrait is deeply rooted in the art historical tradition of the reclining female nude, drawing from a lineage that includes Giorgione, Titian, and Velázquez, and finds a modern culmination in Édouard Manet's Olympia (1863), a work that Lucian Freud greatly admired. The influence of Manet is evident in Freud's portrayal of the female figure in the painting, who also lies over stark-white bedlinen, depicted with warm, flush tones in his signature granular texture and intricate detail.

This work stands as a late masterpiece by Lucian Freud, encapsulating the elements that define the artist’s distinctive and celebrated style in his final years. The sitter, Ria Kirby, was an art handler whom Freud initially met at the Victoria & Albert Museum during his joint exhibition with Frank Auerbach in 2006. Ria went on to become one of his most significant sitters during the final decade of his life, with sessions totalling an intense 2,400 hours over the course of 16 months. Ria, Naked Portrait was completed in 2007 and it is the only portrait of Ria the artist realised.

With an outstanding exhibition history, Ria, Naked Portrait was one of the main focal points of the acclaimed ‘Lucian Freud Portraits’ exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London in 2012, the most popular ticketed exhibition in the gallery’s history at the time.

Katharine Arnold, Vice Chairman 20/21, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art, Europe at Christie’s: “‘Ria, Naked Portrait (2006-2007) is a late masterpiece by one of the twentieth century’s greatest painters. In this painting we see Freud’s mastery of oil paint and how, like Geppetto, he is able to conjure up flesh. Her translucent limbs and flushed skin pulsate with life and comprise one of Freud’s defining legacies to painting. ‘Paint ages like we do’, he famously said. Here, at the age of 80, he studies the appearance of youth. It sits within the rich pedigree of art history and the reclining female nude including Giorgione, Titian, and Velázquez—the latter’s Rokeby Venus (1647- 51) was one of Freud’s favourite paintings at the National Gallery. Testament to its significance, Ria, Naked Portrait would later hang alone in the final room of the National Portrait Gallery’s landmark retrospective in 2012. The show, which was five years in the making and opened just one year after the artist’s death, is one of the most popular ticketed exhibitions in the gallery’s history. It is a privilege to be offering this important painting at Christie’s in London in October.”

Main Image: Lucian Freud, Ria, Naked Portrait. Painted in 2006-2007