Four Eggs on a Plate

by Lucian Freud (2002).

In his 1958 book The Poetics of Space (1958) the art critic Gaston Bachelard observed how attention to detail lends everything a form of dignity. He writes:

Reader, study the periwinkle in detail, and you will see how detail increases an object’s stature.

Which is another way of saying that there is beauty all around us. We only have to take a moment to stop and notice it.

The British artist Lucian Freud believed that if you looked closely enough anything could be a portrait. Every object had a sense of individuality.

Four Eggs on a Plate (2002) is a perfect example of this. Look closely at each egg and you’ll find that each of them appears to have a character of its own. What appears to be a still-life, suddenly emerges as a portrait. A group portrait of four eggs on a plate.

To me, this is an important realization. Look at something long enough and it begins to reveal its individuality. And if you look long enough, you can find beauty anywhere.

Julian

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