One thing that struck me forcibly was how amazingly good he was at depicting volume & depth in what is after all something really in 2 dimensions, for instance the volume of bodies.
They mentioned painters who he was influenced by, Dürer & Francis Bacon.
His painting also made me think of Holbein; of the Pre-Raphaelites, especially Millais when he was young, that incredibly detailed rendering of plants; and of Picasso, particularly Freud's stuff from the late '40s, the simplification of forms & use of strong outlines, e.g. Girl with a Kitten, 1947:
The intense & vivid expression in the eyes of that kitten is astounding, non ?
It was curious to me that the documentary never mentioned the painter with whom Lucian Freud has the most obvious affinites - Degas. Freud shares Degas' brilliance at depicting horses, & Freud's nudes are so reminiscent of Degas' drawings of women bathing, so objective & detailed, drawing & painting them it is often said of both painters as if they were animals, which of course they - we - are. (Degas - The Tub, 1886):
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