Catherine Lampert, author of the recent book Frank Auerbach: Speaking and Painting (Thames & Hudson), writes about her experiences sitting for portraits by Frank Auerbach. The exhibition Frank Auerbach is on view at Tate Britain through March 13, 2016.

Lampert writes: "With a portrait his aim is not exactly to convey likeness, more an experience: how the person looks (including under the skin); what’s going on in their life (and his); the conditions of that evening. Like an apparition, something totally unforeseen, possibly lasting for just seconds, may spring from making a few brush strokes, establishing an area of truth which ‘might actually expand into a whole truth’. The goal is a set of connections between the masses, the space, the sensations and a picture with a tense surface character."