Celebrated Fife artist Jack Vettriano has died at the age of 73.
He was found dead at his apartment in Nice in the south of France on Saturday.
His publicist said: “Jack Vettriano’s passing marks the end of an era for contemporary Scottish art.
“His evocative and timeless works will continue to captivate and inspire future generations.”
It is understood there are no suspicious circumstances.
His passing comes just days before an exhibition of his work was due to open in his hometown of Methil.
Artist grew up in miner’s cottage
Vettriano was born Jack Hoggan on November 17 1951.
The self-taught artist grew up in a small miner’s cottage with his parents and three siblings.
He followed his dad, Bill, down the pits and also worked as a bingo caller in Leven.
But his life changed course at the age of 20 when he began a relationship with primary school teacher Ruth McIntosh.
In 2002, he told The Guardian: “I remember Ruth saying to me: ‘If you don’t do something with your life you’re going to live and die in this town’.
“For my 21st birthday she gave me a box of watercolours and when I tried it I really enjoyed it.”
After only becoming a full-time artist at the age of 40, some of his works went on to command five and six-figure sums at auction.
Vettriano’s 1992 work, The Singing Butler, went under the hammer for almost £750,000 12 years later.
His depiction of a couple dancing on the beach has since become one of the most popular artworks in Scotland.
In the picture, the couple are joined on the sands by their staff, who diligently attempt to shield them from the elements with two large black umbrellas.
Speaking to Vanity Fair in 2012, he described it as “an uplifting fantasy” that “makes people feel good”.
Seven years earlier he was caught up in a plagiarism scandal when Edinburgh designer Sandy Robb accused him of copying some of his drawings from the Illustrator’s Figure Reference Manual.
The manual, published in 1987, acts as a DIY-guide for artists to learn to draw different aspects of the human form.
Vettriano – whose works have been bought by showbiz A-listers including Jack Nicholson and Madonna – came out fighting.
He said: “So I used that manual for precisely what it is there for: to help people who don’t have access to models to construct something.”
Kirkcaldy exhibition held three years ago
An exhibition of his work was displayed at the Kirkcaldy Galleries in 2022.
Covering the years up to 2000, it brought together 57 of his early paintings – the majority from private collections.
Visitors also saw rare works, signed under the artist’s birth name of Hoggan, produced in his early 20s and 30s.
It was his first show since a major exhibition at Glasgow’s Kelvingrove Art Gallery in 2013 – and the first to focus on his formative years and early career.
Famously shunned by the National Galleries of Scotland, it wasn’t until 2011 that his self-portrait The Weight was displayed while on loan from a private collection.
His work has never been purchased by the organisation.
A rejection letter from Edinburgh College of Art, dating back to 1989, was also displayed in 2022 for the first time.
He came across the studying snub while going through some paperwork.
Jack Vettriano painted ‘what comes from the heart’
An important moment in his life came when he was told a copy he made of the 1878 painting Fishing for Oysters at Cancale by American Artist John Singer Sargent was “better than the original”.
Vettriano says this encouraged him to seek inspiration from his own subject matter.
He once said: “It was at that point I realised there was only one way to go forward and that was to find out what comes from your heart.
“I thought: ‘this is where you have to look at your own life’.”
He was quizzed many times on whether his erotic paintings objectified women, but he always maintained they did not.
Speaking to The Courier he said: “When she was alive, my mother once said to me relatively early in my career: ‘Son, do you have to paint women like that?’ and I said: ‘I do, mum, I actually really do’, which I think she understood.”
He added: “I have had the pleasure of painting women who are not afraid to come out and tell me what they envisage them being in a painting.”
Vettriano was awarded an OBE for services to visual arts in 2003.
The following year, he made history when the Singing Butler sold at auction, breaking all records for a Scottish painting at the time.
First Minister John Swinney wrote on X: “I am very sorry to hear the news that Jack Vettriano has died.
“He made a unique and evocative contribution to artistic life in Scotland in such compelling style. My condolences to his family.”
Conversation