Lucian Freud Portraits

More than 100 of Lucian Freud's realist portrait paintings are shown in this blockbuster 2012 National Portrait Gallery show which had been planned in close partnership with the artist, who died aged 88 in July 2011. Freud, the "unrivalled interpreter of human flesh" (Financial Times), has left a lasting legacy through seven decades of remarkable portraiture of family, royalty, celebrities and friends. The performance artist Leigh Bowery and Bowery's friend, Sue Tilley, are represented - Tilley being the subject of Benefits Supervisor Sleeping which sold for a world record $34m (?22m) when it was bought by Roman Abramovich in 2008. Fellow painters such as David Hockney, Frank Auerbach and Francis Bacon sit alongside his friend and riding companion Andrew Parker-Bowles. Freud's final unfinished nude portrait of David Dawson, the artist's assistant for 20 years, 'Portrait of the Hound', is also included in the exhibition, the first major show to focus on Freud's portrait work. Also of note is a work from 1981-83, Large Interior, W11 (after Watteau), a big painting of five people - including Boyt and Freud's daughter Bella - which has not been seen in the UK since 2002 when Tate Britain staged the last big Freud show.

Lucian Freud Portraits is at the National Portrait Gallery from 9 February to 27 May 2012 and is part of the London 2012 Festival (21 June to 9 September), the culmination of the four-year Cultural Olympiad.