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The Courtauld Gallery – Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads

Offer details

Nearest Station

London Charing Cross

Offer Expires

31/12/2026

Location

WC2R 0RN

Phone Number

020 3947 7777

Overview

Printed Paper Voucher Required

Exhibition Dates: 9 February – 27 May.

Weekday £14, Weekend £16.

A remarkable series of hauntingly beautiful, large-scale drawings by Frank Auerbach (born 1931), presented together for the first time at The Courtauld Gallery.

During his early years as a young artist in post-war London, Frank Auerbach produced one of his most remarkable bodies of work: a series of large-scale portrait heads made in charcoal. Auerbach spent months on each drawing, working and reworking them during numerous sessions with his sitters. The marks of this prolonged and vigorous process of creation are evident in the finished drawings, which are richly textured and layered. Sometimes, he would even break through the paper and patch it up before carrying on. Auerbach’s heads emerge from the darkness of the charcoal as vital and alive, having come through a lengthy period of struggle – the image repeatedly created and destroyed. The character of the drawings speaks profoundly of their times as people were remaking their lives after the destructions and upending of war.

Frank Auerbach: The Charcoal Heads is the first time Auerbach’s extraordinary post-war drawings, made in the 1950s and early 1960s, have been brought together as a comprehensive group. They will be shown together with a selection of paintings he made of the same sitters; for him, painting and drawing have always been deeply entwined. The exhibition will be a unique opportunity to see early masterpieces by one of the world’s most celebrated living artists.

Includes entry to the permanent collection.

Opening Times

OFFER TIMES:

9 February – 27 May.
Daily 10.00-18.00

Opening times may very. Please check website for details.

Accessibility

Please check website for details.

Offer details

Nearest Station

London Charing Cross

Offer Expires

31/12/2026

Location

WC2R 0RN

Phone Number

020 3947 7777