The Power of Art to Transform Awareness

In praise of creativity and looking beyond ourselves

Hotel Bedroom (1954) by Lucian Freud. Oil on canvas. 91.5 × 61 cm. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, Canada. Image source WikiArt (Fair Use)

Consider the painting shown here, titled Hotel Bedroom, made by the British artist Lucian Freud in 1954.

A woman lies in bed with her hand touching her face, her large eyes gazing upwards to somewhere we cannot see. It is an expression that is hard to place, perhaps pensive, internally perturbed in some way.

Detail of “Hotel Bedroom” (1954) by Lucian Freud. Oil on canvas. 91.5 × 61 cm. Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, Canada. Image source WikiArt (Fair Use)

Next to the bed stands a man. His hands are bunched up in his pockets. He looks out to the viewer with an equally estranged look — although we sense his concerns are different to hers. Something has come between them, an impasse. A moment of memory or regret has sprung up or maybe there has come a time to pause.

We don’t know exactly what’s happened, and that’s the aspect of this painting that I want to draw your attention to: its deliberate ambiguity.

Detail of “Hotel Bedroom” (1954) by Lucian Freud. Oil on can vas. 91.5 × 61 cm.Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Fredericton, Canada. Image source WikiArt (Fair Use)

There is restlessness in the air. The artist has brilliantly juxtaposed the private space of the…