Ahead of a major exhibition in 2026, the National Portrait Gallery acquired 12 new works from the estate of Lucian Freud, one of Britain’s greatest portrait artists.
Among these are 8 etchings, including a trial proof, which are the first of their medium by Freud to enter the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection. A curated selection of these newly acquired works will be exhibited at the NPG from today as part of a free display that explores Freud’s working practice and dedication to portraiture. Archive research will also inform a major new 2026 exhibition, Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting (12 February – 3 May 2026), which will include some of these previously unseen materials.
One of the newly acquired etchings, which depicts the artist’s daughter, Bella Freud, will feature in the new exhibition, the first of the National Portrait Gallery 2026 programme. Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting will explore the artist’s lifelong preoccupation with the human face and figure from the 1930s to the early twenty-first century, focusing on Freud’s mastery of drawing in all its forms – from pencil, pen, and ink to charcoal and etching. In addition, a carefully selected group of important paintings will reveal the dynamic dialogue between his practice on paper and on canvas. Opening on 12 February 2026, tickets will go on sale this autumn.
Ahead of this, Bella in her Pluto T-Shirt (etching) and other new acquisitions – including an unsigned trial proof of the sitter, without face, and a preparatory sketch of the work – are exhibited as part of a reconfigured Collections display in gallery 26, titled The Making of an Artist: The Lucian Freud Archive. This archive display illustrates Freud’s creative process, with works exhibited side by side to demonstrate specifically how the artist reworked the face of his sitter in the final print. Other highlights include previously unseen sketchbooks and childhood drawings; the artist’s etching tools; and two artworks by Freud’s father, Ernst Freud.
Main Image: Left NPG 7196 Bella in her Pluto T-Shirt (unsigned trial proof without face), 1995 © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved [2025] / Bridgeman Images. Right NPG 7195 Bella in her Pluto T-Shirt (etching), 1995 © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved [2025] / Bridgeman Images. Collection: National Portrait Gallery