Conversation: Martin Gayford, Friend and Model to Lucian Freud, Remembers Artist

Lucian Freud at work, 2006 © David Dawson. An image from “Man With A Blue Scarf” by Martin Gayford.

The artist Lucian Freud died Wednesday night in London at age 88. He was a grandson of Sigmund Freud who became one of the world’s best known painters, particularly credited with breathing vibrant new life into the art of portraiture.

Last year, the writer, critic and curator Martin Gayford published an unique book on the artist: Man With a Blue Scarf: On Sitting For a Portrait By Lucian Freud, which documented the experience of being Freud’s model over the course of a year. Gayford also published an appreciation for his friend yesterday for Bloomberg News.

Gayford joined us by phone in London today:

Right: “Man with a Blue Scarf” — Martin’s portrait in Lucian Freud’s studio, 2004 – © Lucian Freud, Photograph by John Riddy.

Editor’s Note: A transcript will be added soon.