Bella Freud has created a wearable art collection to celebrate a landmark exhibition on her father Lucian Freud at London’s National Portrait Gallery
One of the must-see exhibitions in London is Lucian Freud: Drawing Into Painting at the National Portrait Gallery. It brings together 170 drawings, etchings and paintings, some on display for the first time.
“Lucian Freud was one of the greatest observers of the human condition in the 20th-century. Widely known as a painter, this exhibition interrogates his lesser-known work as a draughtsman,” explains curator Sarah Howgate.
David Hockney, 2002, Lucian Freud, Oil on canvas © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2026 / Bridgeman Images, Lent by a private collection
Freud drew obsessively from an early age; the exhibition’s starting point is the fascinating accumulation of his childhood drawings, 48 sketchbooks, letters and unfinished paintings. They contain curious details and recurring motifs – from telephone numbers ranging from the gas board to the British aristocracy to love-letter drafts, betting tip, and thoughts on paintings.
Girl in Bed, 1952, Lucian Freud, Oil on canvas, © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved 2026 / Bridgeman Images. Photo © National Portrait Gallery, London. Lent by a private collection, courtesy of Ordovas.
Freud’s practice included highly finished linear observational drawings in the 1940s, which were much admired by critics at the time. Freud then turned his attention to painting and a looser approach to the medium, in part influenced by his friendship with Francis Bacon. From the mid-1950s to the 1970s, painting was Freud’s main preoccupation, and drawing became a backdrop, a more private activity but as an essential tool for observation, exploration and understanding his subjects. Freud only returned to drawing in earnest in the mid-1970s when his painting had reached its full maturity. In 1982, after a 34-year hiatus, he returned to etching, which he regarded as a “form of drawing”.
Bella in her Pluto T-Shirt (etching), 1995 © The Lucian Freud Archive. All Rights Reserved [2026] / Bridgeman Images. Collection: National Portrait Gallery
One of the etchings on display is that of Freud’s daughter Bella, above, from 1995. To celebrate this exhibition, Bella has created a capsule collection available at the NPG shop and online called “Everything is a portrait”. This takes its name from a phrase Freud often used. For the artist, any subject – human, animal or botanical – could be approached with the same forensic intensity. Bella has translated this idea in her distinctive handwriting in a precise shade of blue.
The collection includes a tote bag (£40stg), T-shirt (£40stg), sketchbook (£10stg), zip pouch (£18stg)and baseball cap (£35stg), the latter emblazoned with “Wanted 100,000”, a phrase drawn from the Lucian Freud archive. Bella explains, “Making these things for the NPG show is a different way of working with my father again. Imagining what he would find interesting and amusing. I would sometimes show him ideas for collections I was making, now I am making something for him.”
Beyond Bella’s collections, the NPG shop also has selection of Freud-inspired pieces and hues, from bohemian silk scarves to artist overshirts, and homewares. Once you’ve had a look at the exhibition, pop up for lunch at The Portrait Restaurant by Richard Corrigan, on the fourth floor of the Gallery, which, in addition to an inspiring menu, has great views over the city.
Need to know: The exhibition, which runs until May 4, is accompanied by a catalogue which includes the Sarah Howgate’s conversations with Bella Freud and David Dawson, and contributions from Colm Tóibín, Catherine Lampert, Tanya Bentley and Isabel Seligman. www.npg.org.uk
