GIRL WITH ROSES (1947-8)
We stay with Freud's first wife Kitty, with what by some was considered to be his first masterpiece.
The Tate Gallery publication "Freud", which accompanied his 2002 exhibition at Tate Britain, stated:
"It is a painting that establishes Freud's ability to sustain emotion while making every detail play its part.
Seated slightly off-centre, told to sit up, shoullders squared with some degree of confidence, Kitty has here head turned extra full face.
"I was arranged", she said.
Newly pregnant, cautioned to stillness, clutching one rose above the thorns and resting the other on her lap, she has landed the role of Virgin of the Anunciation, apprehensively iconic, the birthmark a neat blemish."
Freud and Kitty were married in spring 1948 and their daughter, Annie, was born in July.
jenray
Pro 
It's a finely executed painting....but I can understand how he moved from these onto what he started to paint and became known for...this style of realism I think would have bored him in the end...he wanted to get inside the person he was painting and he couldn't do that with this style...GBHs...