British portraiture after 1945
This room brings together portraits painted between the 1940s and 1960s, at a time when the genre reinvented itself under the influence of expressionism and a new generation of London painters — Francis Bacon, Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach — who broke with flattering likeness in favour of a psychological truth that could be brutal.
1. A birthday gift burned within the year
The portrait of Winston Churchill by Graham Sutherland was given to the prime minister by both houses of the British Parliament, at a public ceremony in Westminster Hall for his eightieth birthday, on 30 November 1954. Churchill, finding the result merciless, publicly called it a "remarkable example of modern art" with an ironic smile, before privately describing it as "filthy" and complaining that it made him "look half-witted."
The painting disappeared within the year following its presentation. For a long time it was believed that Lady Churchill herself had had it destroyed; more recent biographical research, based on a recording of Clementine Churchill's former secretary, Grace Hamblin, shows that it was Hamblin who arranged the painting's destruction, at the quiet request of a Clementine Churchill "very disturbed" by her husband's distress. The original painting therefore no longer exists; only preparatory studies and photographs preserve any trace of it.
2. Bacon paints Freud: three studies, a small format
Francis Bacon paints in 1964 a small triptych, Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud — each panel measures only around 35 by 30 centimetres — documenting the complex friendship between the two painters, who had known and influenced each other since the 1940s. This work should not be confused with a different, larger and later triptych (1969), also devoted to Freud, which sold at auction in 2013 for around $142 million: these are two distinct paintings, not to be mixed up despite their near-identical titles.
The 1964 version shown here is a long-term loan from a private collection, not a permanent acquisition of the gallery — a useful detail if you are hoping to see it again on a future visit.
How much time
Two contrasting stories about the relationship between a sitter and a portraitist — one of violent rejection, the other of complicit friendship.
- The destroyed Churchill portrait (studies and photographs) — 8 minutes.
- Three Studies for a Portrait of Lucian Freud (Bacon) — 8 minutes.
Sources and verification
Checked against the official notices of the National Portrait Gallery (npg.org.uk) and cross-checked with Wikipedia EN/FR.
- National Portrait Gallery — Winston Churchill (Graham Sutherland)
- Wikipedia EN — Portrait of Winston Churchill (Sutherland)
- National Portrait Gallery — Lucian Freud ('Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud')
- Francis Bacon (catalogue raisonné) — Three Studies for Portrait of Lucian Freud
Displays and room openings can change. Check the National Portrait Gallery website on the day of your visit before following a route.
Listen to the commentary in the gallery
This route gives you a thread to follow. In front of an artwork, CulturAll adds the audio commentary: photograph the work or its label, listen, then ask your questions.
