About This Artwork

Lucian Freud
English, born Germany, 1922–2011

Sunny Morning–Eight Legs, 1997

Oil on canvas
234 x 132.1 cm (92 1/8 x 52 in.)

Joseph Winterbotham Collection, 1997.561

Contemporary Art
Not on Display

Lucian Freud has subjected the human face and figure to uncompromising scrutiny for over 50 years. The monumental Sunny Morning—Eight Legs confronts us with three models arranged on top of and under a sheet-draped bed in the artist’s London studio. The legs that emerge from beneath the bed are the reverse of those of the reclining man; the inclusion of the lower pair of legs, without a body, imparts a tone of perversion, even violence. The model’s exposed genitals and almost pleading expression; the downward angle of the floor, accentuated by the second pair of legs; the heavy, falling linen; and the dog’s delicate frame as it nestles against the man combine to present a disturbing image of vulnerability and mystery.