David Freud

Biography

The son of Lucian Freud and Katherine McAdam, and great-grandson of Sigmund Freud, David has developed an artistic practice rooted in his own experiences and interests. His background includes studies in art, psychology, counselling and psychotherapy, providing a wider context for his exploration of relationships and emotional life.

David approaches painting as a way of understanding thoughts and feelings, allowing each subject to shape how a work develops. His practice moves between portraits of people important to him and landscapes in which natural features meet imaginative forms.

Landscape and Imagination

In David’s landscapes, rounded trees, patterned fields and distant hills unfold beneath expansive skies. Warm yellows, oranges and greens contrast with cooler blues and lilacs, while curling lines and simplified shapes give the compositions movement.

Recognisable scenery merges with abstract forms, inviting viewers to discover their own associations. Titles such as Landscape Introducing Anima & Animus suggest a dialogue between the natural world and psychological ideas, bringing an inner dimension to these colourful landscapes.

Portraiture and Exhibitions

Portraiture offers David a way to spend time with and reflect on people important to him. His exhibition Losing Lucian included portraits made during his father’s final days, bringing painting into a personal encounter with family, loss and memory.

His exhibitions include Losing Lucian at Meller Merceux Galleries, Oxford, in 2011, and Portraits, launched with a talk at Oxford University, in 2012. A retrospective followed at Dantzig Gallery and The Oxfordshire Museum in Woodstock in 2017. He was also artist in residence at Worthing Museum and Art Gallery from 2014 to 2019.