Two Rare Lucian Freud Landscapes Head to Christie's London Auction

Two rare landscapes by Lucian Freud will be offered at Christie's London on February 28, 2025, in the 20th/21st Century: London Evening Sale. The works, 'Scillonian Beachscape' (1945-46, estimate £3.5-5.5 million) and 'Garden from the Window' (2002, estimate £2.5-3.5 million), come from a private collection and previously belonged to entrepreneur and philanthropist Simon Sainsbury. 'Scillonian Beachscape' is one of Freud's largest works from his early period, created after a trip to the Isles of Scilly off the coast of Cornwall, and has not been publicly exhibited since 1974. 'Garden from the Window' makes its auction debut; it was shown at Tate Britain in 2004 and belongs to a series of 'portraits' of the artist's garden at 138 Kensington Church Street. Tessa Lord, Head of Post-War and Contemporary Art at Christie's London, noted that Freud consistently returned to the natural world as a source of inspiration. The auction coincides with the exhibition 'Lucian Freud: Plant Portraits' at the Garden Museum in London, and a retrospective at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum in Madrid opening in February, following its run at the National Gallery in London for the centenary of Freud's birth.