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Sir William Gillies

William Gillies was an influential teacher to several generations of painters and is widely regarded as one of Scottish art’s most beloved sons.  He was perhaps The Scottish Gallery’s most important artist holding seven exhibitions with the Gallery during his lifetime and we still exhibit his paintings on a regular basis. Gillies took influences from a variety of sources throughout his career but he was at his core primarily a Scottish painter. He worked quietly from his Temple cottage, the routine of studio life essential for his creative output: what William McTaggart described as ‘the good habit’. His paintings are not pretentious or didactic; he never painted to please or let his success affect his artistic vision - the idea that a modern artist can have something important to say to the world about the view out his own kitchen window. Looking at his work we see his beloved Lothian and Border landscape through his eyes; a distillation of love and knowledge that has changed the way we look at the landscape.