Prompt: Suggest comparative images for Lucian Freud’s Wasteground with Houses, Paddington 1970-1972.

1. Kelly Richman
October 2015
Prompt:
Suggest comparative images for Lucian Freud’s Wasteground with Houses, Paddington 1970-1972.

2. An Unlikely Pairing: The Landscapes of Lucian Freud and Paul Cézanne
Intimate in nature and deeply rooted in psychology, the distinctive portraits of British
painter Lucian Freud have garnered an unequivocally prominent role in the realm of Post-War
and Contemporary Art. Detailed and aesthetically unidealised, these personal portrayals have
come to represent the artist’s oeuvre, leaving his other works – namely, his small collection of
London landscapes – often overlooked. One example of these scenic studies is Wasteground with
Houses, Paddington 1970-1972 (Figure 1). Void of human subjects and set outdoors, the subject
matter of this piece noticeably strays from the artist’s characteristic focus. An unglamourous
scene of urban grit, Wasteground with Houses, Paddington is not a typical landscape painting – yet, it
is not without art historical influence. Though executed in the artist’s characteristically detailed
style, Wasteground with Houses, Paddington bears resemblance to a painting by another prolific –
albeit unlikely – artist: Paul Cézanne’s The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1873 (Figure 2).
Like his portraits, Freud’s Wasteground with Houses, Paddington is not an idyllic
representation of his subject. Set against a colourless sky, claustrophobic rows of houses topped
with crooked chimneys surround a ‘wasteground’ – a plot of land comprised of gnarled trees and
scattered trash. Formally the site of stables1 and now merely a place to abandon refuse, this
make-shift junkyard deeply fascinated Freud, as it appears again in Waste Ground, Paddington, 1970
(Figure 3), a similar portrayal painted contemporaneously. In addition to the title’s telling syntax,2
the wasteground is painted in great detail – a close inspection of the heap reveals an accumulation
of discarded mattresses, strewn clothing, and broken furniture – and it is evident that Freud paid
great attention to the seemingly insignificant objects. Furthermore, he has placed it in the centre
of the composition; all other aspects of the image frame it, and – with its eclectic mix of textures
and forms – it breaks up the monotony of the nearly identical buildings. Ordinary and sordid, the
subject matter of Wasteground with Houses, Paddington is clearly different from that of painters past;
however, it is not completely novel, as it features certain Cézannian influences.
Known predominantly for his Post-Impressionist landscapes, French artist Paul Cézanne
may not seem a comparable counterpart to British portrait-painter Lucian Freud. However,
identifying a relationship between the two is not entirely unfounded, as Wasteground with Houses,
Paddington would not be Freud’s first homage to Cézanne. In 2000, he completed After Cézanne
1 Michael Gandy, ‘Urban Nature and the Ecological Imaginary’ in Nikolas C. Heynen, Maria Kaika, Erik
Swyngedouw, In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism (New York: Taylor & Francis,
2006), 63-74.
2 The title’s syntax suggests the direction of the artist’s focus, as it is tellingly named Wasteground with Houses, Paddington,
rather than Houses with Wasteground, Paddington

3. (Figure 4), an interpretive allusion to Cézanne’s Afternoon in Naples, 1875 (Figure 5). Featuring two
females and one male, Freud’s referential rendition is set in a peculiar interior: two figures lounge
on an arbitrary staircase while a toppled chair rests at their feet and an empty, isolated bookshelf
exists in the distance. Afternoon in Naples also features one male and two female figures within an
interior; the furnishings, however, are more traditional and less offbeat. While compositionally
alike, the two pieces are not identical, and, stylistically, there are striking differences. “Differ[ing]
in scale and painterly treatment and in the emphasis placed on figures and objects,”3 they share
little in common other than their subject matter – three figures placed in an interior – and vague
arrangement. However, as After Cézanne inherently references Afternoon in Naples, Cézanne clearly
influenced and inspired Freud.
Just as After Cézanne inherently alludes to Afternoon in Naples regardless of stylistic difference,
Wasteground with Houses, Paddington echoes The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise. Given the
precise brushwork and attention to detail, aesthetically, the buildings featured in Freud’s
Wasteground with Houses, Paddington seem to bear little in common with those of Cézanne’s
countryside; the former’s gritty London flats are rigid and uniform, while the latter’s French
cottages are rustic and mismatched. However, it is in the unlikely focal point of Wasteground with
Houses, Paddington where stylistic similarities are evident – particularly, in Freud’s Impressionist
foliage. Myriad strokes of green suggest leaves and overgrown shrubbery, while blended patches
of neutral tones comprise the ground. In both Wasteground with Houses, Paddington and The House of
the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise, however, the Impressionist planes of colour and organic
brushstrokes are broken up by protruding and starkly linear bare branches (Figure 6) – a feature
present in many other Cézanne landscapes, including Chateau Noir, 1904 (Figure 7) and Landscape
near Aix, the Plain of the Arc River, 1892-1895 (Figure 8).
Furthermore, Wasteground with Houses, Paddington and The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-
sur-Oise share another like characteristic: unique perspective. In Wasteground with Houses,
Paddington, Freud portrays the landscape from an elevated viewpoint – specifically, from a window
in the artist’s studio.4 At this slightly aerial angle, the viewer is able to view the wasteground, the
painting’s focal point. Furthermore, as rooftops of lower-lying houses are apparent in the
immediate foreground, Freud creates a more authentic point of view and sense of depth. This
approach is also found in much of Cézanne’s work, including The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-
3 National Gallery of Australia. Lucian Freud, After Cezanne. http://nga.gov.au/freud/
4 Cécile Debray, Lucian Freud: The Studio, Hirmer Verlag, 2010

4. sur-Oise. Like Freud, Cézanne places his hypothetical viewer at a slightly raised vantage point,
modifying the traditional landscape model and altering the expected point-of-view.
Similarly, a final likeness between the two works is evident in their striking compositions.
Cluttered and winding, both Wasteground with Houses, Paddington and The House of the Hanged Man,
Auvers-sur-Oise depict buildings receding toward the horizon. In the foreground of both scenes are
plots of land – the wasteground and a dirt road, respectively. Surrounded by nestled homes, the
foreground of each painting draws the viewer’s eye toward the scene and further enables one to
imagine he or she is in the scene. With these full compositions, both Freud and Cézanne
successfully evoke the simultaneously similar yet contrasting nature of the respective scenery: a
crowded city, and a cosy countryside.
Divergent in artistic style and working decades apart, Lucian Freud and Paul Cézanne
may appear to be an improbable comparison. Though dreamy Impressionism and realistic Post-
War paintings are not typically compared to one another, the former’s influence on the latter is
undeniably evident – not through brushstrokes and colour palette, but, as evident in Wasteground
with Houses, Paddington and The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise, in subject matter, atypical
perspective, and fascinating composition. Ultimately, while Lucian Freud did not look to
Cézanne for his Impressionist style, he was clearly inspired by his unique approach and
undeniably innovative eye.

5. Figures:
Figure 1.
Lucian Freud, Wasteground with Houses, Paddington, 1970-1972
Oil on Canvas, 39 ¾ x 66 in. (101 x 167.5 cm.)

6. Figure 2.
Paul Cézanne, The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise, 1873
Oil on Canvas, 21.7 × 26 in. (55 × 66 cm.)

7. Figure 3.
Lucian Freud, Waste Ground, Paddington, 1970
Oil on Canvas, 28 x 28 in. (71.1 x 71.1 cm.)

8. Figure 4.
Lucian Freud, After Cézanne, 1999-2000
Oil on Canvas, 84 ¼ x 84 5/8 in. (214 x 215 cm.)

9. Figure 5.
Paul Cézanne, Afternoon in Naples, 1875
Oil on Canvas, 14 9/16 x 17 3/4 in. (37 x 45 cm.)

10. Figure 6.
Details from The House of the Hanged Man, Auvers-sur-Oise and Wasteground with Houses,
Paddington

11. Figure 7.
Paul Cézanne, Chateau Noir, 1900-1903
Oil on Canvas, 29 x 38 1/16 in. (73.7 x 96.6 cm.)

12. Figure 8.
Paul Cézanne, Landscape near Aix, the Plain of the Arc River, 1900-1903
Oil on Canvas, 32 ½ x 26 1/8 in. (82.55 x 66.36 cm.)

13. Bibliography:
Debray, Cécile, Lucian Freud: The Studio. (Hirmer Verlag, 2010).
Gandy, Michael. ‘Urban Nature and the Ecological Imaginary’ in Nikolas C. Heynen, Maria
Kaika, Erik Swyngedouw (ed./eds.). In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the
Politics of Urban Metabolism (New York: Taylor & Francis, 2006), 63-74.
National Gallery of Australia. Lucian Freud, After Cezanne. http://nga.gov.au/freud/