Lucian Freud (1922-2011) was perceived as being so reluctant to talk about his late teenage years that he came under criticism for constructing his own, mythical narrative of his youth. Now, ten unpublished letters written by the teenage artist to his friend, the famous poet and critic Stephen Spender (1909–1995), have emerged from the Spender family collection after 70 years. Casting light on the formative years of one of the most influential British artists of the 20th-century, they will be offered at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction on 2nd July 2015 with a combined estimate of £28,000-42,000. The letters will be sold alongside two works by Frank Auerbach (b. 1931) from the same collection including Head of Gerda Boehm (1961), one of the artist’s finest works on paper estimated at £250,000 – 350,000. Oliver Barker, Senior International Specialist Contemporary Art: “While

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