He fought the system and basically won

"He fought the system and basically won."

A grandson of Sigmund Freud, a leading pioneer of modern psychoanalysis, Freud was especially known for his nudes. He meticulously revealed every flaw, creating an intimate, unflinching level of detail that sometimes leaves viewers uncomfortable.

"He has certainly divided critics," said Starr Figura, a curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

"The ones who don't appreciate him find his work hard to look at and a bit out of step with what is going on in the rest of the world. They have a hard time categorizing it," she said.

"I think his work is very charged, and it is quite disturbing to look at," Figura said. "That's what gives people a problem and that's what gives his work power and fascination. His work is incredibly personal, and that comes through. On the other hand it is also very detached and critical and that is what makes it so intense."

Gorvy said Freud painted long hours every day, even in his late 80s, in a sustained bid to complete his life's work.

"He lived and breathed his art," he said. "For someone who was so successful, he was extraordinarily regulated in his day, with three main sittings a day and some at night. He worked each and every day to this very tough regime. He was very aware of his own mortality and he knew his time was very, very precious."