Moore / Freud

13 Jun-13 Sep 2026

Overview

Two towering figures of the 20th century in conversation, exploring the theme of family.

Moore / Freud will be the first exhibition to explore the distinctive ways in which Henry Moore and Lucian Freud drew upon familial bonds and intimate relationships as crucial sources of artistic inspiration.

Presenting their work side-by-side, through a shared and personal theme, this small but tightly focused exhibition will help provoke consideration of issues such as where artistic inspiration is found and how it translates in very different ways.

Freud and Moore are towering figures of the 20th century who would have been aware of each other’s work and have exhibited in similar contexts. For both artists, ‘family’ was a recurring theme. Freud famously repeatedly recorded his close friends, lovers and children, often sublimating the personal relationship through the titles that he chose for the works. In turn, Moore in the 1940s began to represent the family group in maquettes and drawings. His Madonna and Child works reflect on this same subject as well as his post-war groupings – usually a mother, father and child or children.

The exhibition will place two artists in conversation through an examination of Moore maquettes and drawings, where the artist’s hand is felt more keenly, and Freud’s etchings plus a small number of his key oil paintings from public and private collections including the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts, University of East Anglia, and the New Art Gallery Walsall.