Overview

• The exhibition runs from June 20 to September 7 at the National Portrait Gallery in London and features 50 works spanning Saville’s career from her 1992 debut to 2020.
• Charles Saatchi discovered Saville at a 1992 Cambridge graduation show and her breakout painting 'Propped' anchors the early galleries.
• Landmark works include the intense stare of her 2004–5 portrait 'Stare' and the colour-saturated 2020 canvas 'Rupture'.
• Her paintings channel Willem de Kooning’s surface-driven forms alongside the British figurative tradition embodied by Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud.
• Her 2020 canvases such as 'Chasah' and 'Prism' blend smooth figuration with dynamic abstract gestures, showcasing her ongoing technical innovation.