To put down an ideogram of a table so that people will recognize it as a table is not the work of a painter, but to sense it for a moment as a magic carpet with a leg hanging down at each corner is the beginning of a painter's imagination.

From 1955 he began teaching in secondary schools but quickly moved into the visiting tutor circuit at numerous art schools including Ravensbourne Ealing Sidcup and the Slade School of Art. " This simple statement belies the intensity of the relationship that develops between Auerbach and his subjects which results in an astonishing desire to produce an image the artist considers 'right'. In Britain Auerbach became a pupil at Bunce Court School near Faversham in Kent where he excelled in not only art but also drama classes.

He has been a naturalised British citizen since 1947.