![Lucian Freud - Boy’s Head [1952] by Gandalf's Gallery](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7301/12536376913_6a78cd2140.jpg)
Enclosed within the glassy marbles of the boy’s eyes, his depthless black pupils and serene grey-blue irises emit a hypnotic intensity that pierces out to confront and transfix the viewer. The features of the boy are physically and compositionally held in place by the palm of his left hand, which buttresses against his cheek and jaw bones. The drooping flesh of the boy’s ample cheek is pulled taught by his hand, stretching the mouth open to bare the pearly young teeth below. This remarkably observed detail accentuates dramatically the psychosomatic character of the sitter. The artist’s careful selection of a focused scale, consistent with works of this period, is here fundamental to its impact as it enables the maximum exertion of control over the subject. Most comparable is the legendary painting Francis Bacon of 1952, which was completed over two to three months. Boy’s Head is extant counterpart to that masterpiece, providing another side of Freud’s incomparable interpretation of the human animal.
[Sotheby’s Auction House - Oil on canvas]