Frank Auerbach
PainterKnown for:
heavily impastoed figurative painting of London
Education:
St Martin's School of Art, London; Borough Polytechnic (under David Bomberg); Royal College of Art (1952-1955)
Frank Auerbach was sent from Berlin to England as a child to escape Nazism; his parents died in the camps. He began studying with David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic in London in 1947 and spent the following seven decades painting the same small group of subjects - Camden Town building sites, portraits of his studio sitters - with an impasto so thick it approached relief sculpture. He has almost never left London and has worked consistently in the same studio for decades.
Frank Auerbach's Gear List(1)
Winsor & Newton
Connection note
Auerbach uses Winsor & Newton oil colours, applied in thick impasto layers that can take months to dry. His exclusive use of oil paint and his London art suppliers are documented in published interviews.
Product description
Winsor & Newton has manufactured artists' oil colours in London since 1832, and its professional-grade line remains one of the most widely used in studio painting worldwide. The range covers more than 120 pigments, each ground in cold-pressed linseed or safflower oil to a standard of consistency that has changed little since the nineteenth century. Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon were among the many painters who worked from the Winsor & Newton range throughout their careers.
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Last updated March 20, 2026
