Lucien Freud at MoMA-Christopher Benfey

I picked Christopher Benfey’s piece on Lucian Freud at the MoMA, featured on Slate.com.
As far as I can tell, the author’s tone on the work of Lucian Freud is a very bleak, somber one, definitely useful in portraying the artist’s talent. He describes Freud (the grandson of Sigmund) as a master of “emotionally probing portraits and candid nudes” (to quote the author), a dark and existential artiste.
He compares various stages of pieces in Freud’s work, from the personal to his most famous, his paintings of Leigh Bowery, nude. (There HAD to be a reason why I picked this article, of course.)
He does not really describe the venue itself, but more of the artist behind it, which is gratifying.
Benfey researches Freud through various galleries and books published about him.
The tone is primarily dark and, I’d say, existential. The language is as the artist’s imagery: not pretty, bleak, somewhat grotesque. It’s also somewhat subjective, but then again, most reviews are.
To me, it seems that Benfey takes time to distinguish Lucian Freud from his revered grandfather, which I as a reader and appreciator of L. Freud’s work approve of—I wouldn’t want anyone reading this to get the wrong impression of him. Benfey takes time to explain L. Freud’s technique, his views on his models, his dark background—that definitely distinguishes him as an artist. I believe that Benfey’s audience for this piece is for those who either merely thought of L. Freud as a painter of nudes, or just, well, his grandfather’s protégé.