A masterpiece by British artist Lucian Freud is headed to auction this summer. Freud’s widely exhibited nude painting of model Sue Tilley, “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” (1995–96), could fetch up to £35 million (~$47 million) at Sotheby’s in London on June 24.
The grandson of Sigmund Freud is known for deeply observed portraits of friends and family that capture his sitters’ psychological gravitas and visceral physicality. Freud met Tilley, an unemployment office manager, through the Australian performance artist and fashion designer Leigh Bowery, who has also been featured in the artist’s paintings from the early 1990s. A Sotheby’s catalog note describes Tilley’s sittings with Freud as often “long and intense,” and it would sometimes take him nine months to complete a painting.
Though she sometimes asked for a break, Freud insisted that her participation was essential to completing the piece. “I need your aura, your presence affects everything, the colour of your skin affects the floorboards — it’s all connected,” he would say, according to Sotheby’s. As Tilley posed for hours on end, she’d occasionally fall asleep, leaving Freud to capture her in a state of repose.
The over seven-foot-tall work is the last in a series of four monumental portraits of Tilley in resting postures, and the latest to hit the auction block since “Benefits Supervisor Sleeping” (1995), which sold for $33.6 million at Christie’s in 2008.
In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Tilley said that “Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” was “the most comfortable one, because I was sitting up in a chair. Lying down on the sofa looks comfortable, but after a while it got a bit painful.”
“It did change my life,” Tilley, now 69, added. “Who would have thought I’d be in Sotheby’s?”
“Sleeping by the Lion Carpet” also marks a defining point for Freud, whose textural, unflinching nudes magnify his ability to document their sitters’ most honest, sensual selves. This revelation has left a lasting impression on contemporary artists like Jenny Saville and Marlene Dumas, whose works thrive on a similar corporeality.
The painting was purchased directly by art collector and investor Joe Lewis from Freud’s art dealer and long-time champion Bill Acquavella. The work will be on view at Sotheby’s Bond Street Galleries from June 10 through June 23 before heading to auction along with pieces by Degas, Matisse, and Klimt, among others.
