A significant collection of previously unseen works by British artist Lucian Freud is set to be unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery early next year, marking the UK’s most comprehensive museum exhibition dedicated to his oeuvre.
Titled Drawing into Painting, the exhibition, scheduled for 2026, will feature a wealth of previously unexhibited material from the artist’s archive held at the gallery.
This includes childhood drawings, 48 sketchbooks, personal letters, and unfinished paintings, offering an intimate glimpse into Freud’s creative process.
While Lucian Freud is predominantly celebrated as a painter, this forthcoming exhibition will place a particular emphasis on his drawings and other mediums, exploring how these works illuminate pivotal shifts and developments throughout his artistic career.
The collection comprises 170 drawings, etchings, and paintings.
Among the highlights is one of Freud’s most ambitious figure compositions, Large Interior, W11 (1981–3), a direct artistic dialogue with Jean-Antoine Watteau’s Pierrot Content (1712). Watteau’s original masterpiece will also be on display, on loan from the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum in Madrid.
Drawing into Painting aims to showcase Freud’s working methods across various mediums, featuring drawings and etchings that directly relate to specific paintings.
This includes his persistent attempts over many years to replicate John Constable’s Study of the Trunk of an Elm Tree (1821), which ultimately inspired his own painting, After Constable’s Elm (2003). Constable’s original work will also be exhibited alongside Freud’s interpretation.
The exhibition is curated by Sarah Howgate, the NPG’s senior curator of contemporary collections, in collaboration with artist and director of the Lucian Freud Archive, David Dawson.
An accompanying publication, sharing the exhibition’s title, will feature conversations with Bella Freud and David Dawson, alongside contributions from notable figures such as Colm Toibin and Catherine Lampert.
Commenting on the upcoming collection, Ms Howgate stated: "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."
She added: "I am excited that Lucian Freud: Drawing into Painting brings together the artist’s finest drawings from all over the world, some seen in this exhibition for the first time, and reunites them with the corresponding paintings."
Ms Howgate concluded: "This exhibition, taking place in London, the city Freud loved more than any other, reveals a less familiar side of his work, a wonderful opportunity to understand his behind-the-scenes workings and day-to-day thinking as an artist."
Drawing into Painting will run at the National Portrait Gallery from 12 February to 4 May 2026.
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