Celia Paul

• Name — Celia Paul • Born — 11 November 1959 • Birthplace — Thiruvananthapuram, India • Partner — Lucian Freud (1978–1988) • Children — 1

Celia Paul was born on 11 November 1959 in Thiruvananthapuram (formerly called Trivandrum), South India. From 1976 to 1981 she studied at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, where she met Lucian Freud who was a visiting tutor and with whom she would have a relationship. Paul was represented by Bernard Jacobson Gallery, London from 1984 to 1986 and then by Marlborough Fine Art, London from 1989 to 2014. She has been represented by Victoria Miro, London since May 2014. A solo exhibition of new work by the artist titled Celia Paul: Memory and Desire took place at Victoria Miro in London, 6 April–14 May 2022. The exhibition coincided with the publication of Letters to Gwen John, a new book by the artist published by Jonathan Cape and New York Review Books which centres on a series of letters addressed to the painter Gwen John (1876–1939), who has long been a tutelary spirit for Paul. Paul wrote her autobiography Self-Portrait which was released in 2019 and well received by national newspapers including The Guardian, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Review of Books.

From the age of 18 to 28, Paul was in a romantic relationship with Lucian Freud. She has a son with him, Frank Paul (born 10 December 1984), who is also an artist. She was married to Steven Kupfer from 2011 until his death in 2021.

• "Celia Paul: Colony of Ghosts", Victoria Miro, London, 14 March – 17 April 2025 • "Celia Paul: Memory and Desire", Victoria Miro, London, 6 April – 14 May 2022 • "Celia Paul: Self-Portrait", an extended reality (XR) exhibition on Vortic Collect, Victoria Miro, London, UK, 10 November – 12 December 2020 • "Celia Paul: My Studio", an extended reality (XR) exhibition on Vortic Collect, Victoria Miro, London, UK, 26 June – 25 July 2020 • "Celia Paul", Victoria Miro, London, 13 November – 20 December 2019 • "Celia Paul", curated by Hilton Als, Yale Center for British Art, 3 April – 12 August 2018, traveled to the Huntington, San Marino, 9 February – 8 July 2019 • "The Sea and The Mirror", Victoria Miro Venice, 23 September – 21 December 2017 • "Desdemona for Hilton by Celia", Victoria Miro, London, 16 September – 29 October 2016 • "Desdemona for Celia by Hilton", Gallery Met, New York, 2015 • "Celia Paul", Victoria Miro, 2014 • "Gwen John and Celia Paul: Painters in Parallel", Pallant House Gallery, Chichester, 2012–2013 • "Celia Paul", Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield, 2005 • "Celia Paul: Stillness", Abbot Hall, Kendal, 2004 • Regular solo exhibitions at Marlborough Fine Art, 1991–2013 • "Celia Paul", Bernard Jacobson Gallery, 1986

• "Pictus Porrectus: Reconsidering the Full-Length Portrait", curated by Dodie Kazanjian and Alison Gingeras, Isaac Bell House, Newport, Rhode Island, 1 July – 2 October 2022 • "Me, Myself, I – Artists’ Self-Portraits", Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, 2 May – 19 June 2022 • "Figuration", Marlborough Gallery, London, 17 March – 29 April 2022 • "The Sublime in Nature", Daniel Malarkey, London, 16 June – 10 July 2021 • "I See You", an extended reality (XR) exhibition on Vortic Collect, Victoria Miro, London, 2 June – 4 July 2020 • "Parley for the Oceans x Vortic", online exhibition on Vortic, 2 October – 2 November 2020 • "Works on Paper", Galleri Bo Bjerggaard, Copenhagen, 26 January – 6 April 2019 • "Unparalleled Journey through Contemporary Art of Past 50 Years", Rubell Museum, Miami, USA, on view since 4 December 2019 • "Contemporary Dialogues with Tintoretto", Palazzo Ducale and Galleria Giorgio Franchetti alla Ca’ d’Oro, Venice, 20 October 2018 – 24 February 2019 • "Studio Prints: a Survey", Marlborough Fine Art, London, 30 November – 21 December 2018 • "All Too Human", Tate Britain, 28 February – 26 August 2018; travelling to Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 9 October 2018 – 13 January 2019 • "House Work", Victoria Miro Mayfair, London, 1 February – 18 March 2017 • "NO MAN'S LAND: Women Artists from the Rubell Family Collection", Rubell Family Collection, Miami, 2015 – 2016 • "Forces in Nature", curated by Hilton Als; Victoria Miro, London, 2015 • Work presented at Frieze Art Fair, London, 2014 by Victoria Miro • "Cinematic Visions: Painting at the Edge of Reality", curated by James Franco, Isaac Julien and Glenn Scott Wright, Victoria Miro, London, 2013 • "Self-Consciousness", curated by Peter Doig and Hilton Als, VeneKlasen/Werner, Berlin, 2010 • "Psycho", curated by Danny Moynihan, Anne Faggionato, London, 2000 • "School of London", Odette Gilbert, London, 1989 • "British Figurative Art: Sickert to Bacon", Israel Museum, Jerusalem, 1989 • "School of London: Bacon to Bevan", Musée Maillol, Paris, 1998 • "September", curated by Peter Doig, The approach, London, 1997

British Museum, London; National Portrait Gallery, London; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Saatchi Collection, London; Abbot Hall, Kendal; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Yale Center for British Art, Connecticut; Carlsberg Foundation, Copenhagen; Frissiras Museum, Athens; Herzog Anton Ulrich Museum, Brunswick, Germany; Morgan Library, New York; New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge.