Abstract:

In Western traditional painting, the perfect form of composition and superb technique are regarded as the epitome of beauty. However, contemporary figurative painting presents the characteristics of anti-aesthetics. it presents the characteristics of anti-aesthetics. Many artists have abandoned the pursuit of external beauty through form and technique, instead pursuing an inner beauty. Freud is a typical representative of this trend. His oil paintings of human body no longer pursue aesthetic appeal but rather use large brushes and direct strokes to create solid and thick forms. By distorting, exaggerating, and deforming the physical body, he reveals the true soul, the pathology, depression, and absurdity of the human soul, which constitute the anti-aesthetic characteristics of contemporary figurative painting. Freud has provided a new aesthetic approach for Western contemporary oil painting through his own art.

Key words: contemporary, Western figurative painting, anti-aesthetic, Lucian Freud