National Portrait Gallery's Lucian Freud Exhibition Sponsored By Bank of American Merrill Lynch

The last work of the late Lucian Freud will go on show for the first time at the most ambitious exhibition of the artist’s work for ten years, opening at the National Portrait Gallery, London, in February 2012. The exhibition will be sponsored by Bank of America Merrill Lynch.   

The inclusion of Portrait of a Hound 2011, the unfinished nude painting of Freud’s assistant David Dawson with his dog Eli, will enable exhibition visitors for the first time to see the artist’s most important portraits from the earliest in the 1940s to the one he was painting shortly before his death on 20 July 2011.   

With over 100 paintings and works on paper loaned from museums and private collections throughout the world, Lucian Freud Portraits is the result of many years’ planning by the Gallery in close partnership with the late Lucian Freud. The exhibition will be the first to focus on his portraiture and is a countdown event for the London 2012 Festival – the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad.

Sandy Nairne, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, said: "The National Portrait Gallery is delighted to bring together so many outstanding portraits created by one of the great artists of our time. Lucian Freud painted people with an inquisitive brilliance. We are also very pleased to be continuing our relationship with Bank of America Merrill Lynch who return to us after sponsoring our 2010 Irving Penn Portraits exhibition.’  

Rena De Sisto, Global Arts and Culture Executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch says: ‘We are delighted to be supporting the National Portrait Gallery in bringing together the works of such a fascinating, provocative and groundbreaking artist.

"As a company doing business in more than 100 countries, we are committed to supporting the arts across the globe, and it is our belief that a healthy arts sector helps economies and societies thrive. Through the provision of grants and sponsorships, as well as our unique art loaning and art conservation programmes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch helps to facilitate access to dynamic cultural experiences for the public and we hope that visitors enjoy this ambitious collection of some of Lucian Freud’s most significant works."