In the summer of 1945, Lucian Freud and John Craxton (English artist and friend of Freud) decided to get away from London and adventure to St. Mary’s to spend some time sketching the island and the archipelago. These two were a charming pair (both aged 22 at the time) with vastly different personalities. Lucian Freud was solitary and unruly, which contrasted perfectly with Craxton's charismatic personality. They found inspiration in each other and often painted each other or worked on the same piece together. They were genuinely captivated by the beauty that the island had to offer. Their ultimate goal was to go to Paris after visiting St. Mary’s and see a Picasso exhibition. However, they were discovered as stowaways on their way to Paris and brought back to St. Mary’s Isles of Scilly. The Isles of Scilly are where Freud began to paint his landscapes which marked the beginning of Freud’s rise to becoming an important figure of post-war modern painting in Britain. A famous painting he created during his time on the island is called Scillonian Beachscape (1945-1946). Freud's time spent on this island allowed him to fully immerse himself in the idea and act of painting the natural world.