Jenny Saville’s first major UK museum exhibition Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting has been unveiled at the National Portrait Gallery. Curated by Sarah Howgate, the gallery’s Senior Curator of Contemporary Collections, in close collaboration with Saville herself, the exhibition offers a sweeping, chronological overview of the artist’s evolving practice—featuring 50 works from her early days at the Glasgow School of Art in the 1990s to her most recent explorations in abstraction and gesture.
Best known for her raw depictions of the human body, Saville rose to prominence shortly after her 1992 degree show, where her Rubenesque painting Propped–an unflinchingly confident nude self-portrait, depicting the then 22-year old artist seated with her hands pressing into the flesh of her thighs–stole the show. The painting’s reappearance at the National Portrait Gallery alongside other early works, underscores Saville’s sustained inquiry into the physicality of painting and the human form, and her unique subversion of the male gaze in her portraiture. Savile’s canvases are powerful in their visceral application of paint, scale and un-airbrushed honesty, and she often adopts an unflinching viewpoint, zooming in on the faces of her subjects to reveal and revel in every flaw or defect.
Saville’s more recent paintings veer away from realism towards abstraction, and she moves away from a fleshy Freudian palette towards bright blues and radiant reds, even performing some kind of painterly alchemy by depicting a rainbow illuminating the face of one of her portraits.
The exhibition juxtaposes reinforces Saville’s status as one of the most acclaimed contemporary artists with a thoughtfully curated selection ranging from her monumental oil canvases to more intimate charcoal drawings. Showcasing the breadth of Saville’s approach and her enduring fascination with flesh, anatomy, and the painterly process, The Anatomy of Painting also demonstrates the influence of Rembrandt, Lucian Freud, and Francis Bacon on her practice. Influences from artists like Willem de Kooning and Cy Twombly are evident in Saville’s later works, where gestural brushstrokes blur the boundaries between figuration and abstraction.
Saville’s interest in anatomy goes beyond the artistic canon. She has closely studied medical illustrations and even observed plastic surgeries to understand the layered complexity of flesh. “Witnessing a surgeon makes you see how layered flesh is,” Saville has said. “I started to think about not just the anatomy of the body, but about the anatomy of painting: the layering, the pace and tempo of the painted surface, the viscosity of the paint.”
Through her visceral, emotionally charged works, The Anatomy of Painting invites visitors to witness the evolution of an artist who continues to push the boundaries of figurative painting while engaging deeply with its historical and material roots. The exhibition runs at the National Portrait Gallery through autumn 2025.
“This exhibition brings together the body of paintings I’ve made over forty years. It is with huge gratitude that I would like to thank all at the National Portrait Gallery, the Modern in Fort Worth and to the collectors who have agreed to loan my work. Special thanks goes to Gagosian for their encouragement and support of my work through these years. And to my family, who have filled my life with joy.”
Jenny Saville, Artist
“Jenny Saville is one of the most important artists working today. This exhibition charts an exciting journey, from the early monumental paintings I remember well from her ‘Young British Artists III’ exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in 1994, to her recent ‘portraits’ for the 21st century. Walking a tightrope between figuration and abstraction, the exhibition celebrates and delights in the nature of paint itself. It has been a privilege to work closely with Jenny Saville on The Anatomy of Painting.”
Sarah Howgate, Exhibition Curator and Senior Curator Contemporary Collections, National Portrait Gallery
The exhibition is accompanied by a comprehensive publication of the same name, which includes texts from Emanuele Coccia, Dr Nicholas Cullinan, John Elderfield, Roxane Gay and Andrea Karnes, as well as a conversation between Saville and the show’s curator, Sarah Howgate, and newly commissioned studio images by artist Sally Mann.
Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting is supported by Gagosian, AMA Collection, Nicholas Leonidas Goulandris, and Christie’s. Visitors aged 25 and under can book free exhibition tickets for Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting, thanks to generous private donor support.
Jenny Saville: The Anatomy of Painting is at the National Portrait Gallery until 7th September, 2025. Visitors aged 25 and under can book a free exhibition ticket at npg.org.uk
