Hastings Contemporary presents "Moore / Freud," the first exhibition to directly compare Henry Moore and Lucian Freud through the lens of family, intimacy, and personal relationships. Running from June 13 to September 13, 2026, the show features 20 works including maquettes, drawings, and paintings that explore how both artists used familial bonds as a creative catalyst. Highlights include Freud's portraits of his children Bella, Esther, and Ali, alongside Moore's "Family Group" (1945) and his wartime Shelter Drawings of families in the London Underground.
This exhibition matters because it reframes two towering 20th-century artists—often discussed through grand narratives of modernism and portraiture—through a more private, revealing perspective: the familial bond. By placing Moore's abstracted, organic forms in direct conversation with Freud's forensic figurative realism, the show illuminates a shared emotional territory that their divergent styles usually obscure. It also offers a rare chance to see Moore's intimate maquettes and drawings alongside Freud's most personal portraits, deepening public understanding of how family shaped their artistic vision.