Self-portrait of Jack Vettriano to go on display in Edinburgh

A self-portrait by celebrated Fife artist Jack Vettriano is set to go on display in Edinburgh to mark the first anniversary of his death.

Portrait of the Artistwill be unveiled at the National Galleries of Scotland on Saturday, exactly one year after he died.

The painting will be free to see and will remain on display until early 2029.

It is part of a six-year loan from the artist's estate, celebrating the life and legacy of the man widely known as the "People's Painter".

Painted in 1993, the self-portrait shows Vettriano taking a break in his Edinburgh flat, where he kept a studio.

Wearing paint-splattered clothes and seated in a moment of reflection, he is depicted in dramatic light and shadow - a technique that became a defining feature of his work and helped give his paintings their distinctive cinematic atmosphere.

The work was created a year after his best-known painting, The Singing Butler, which would go on to transform his career.

In 2004 it sold at auction for £744,800 - a Scottish record at the time - and later became the best-selling art print in the UK.

Its enduring cultural influence was underlined when street artist Banksy produced a reimagined version that sold for £4.3m in March 2025.

Imogen Gibbon, head of portraiture and photography at the National Galleries of Scotland, said it was "particularly significant" to mark the anniversary by showing a self-portrait that celebrated Vettriano's contribution to Scottish culture.

She added that the gallery was grateful to the artist's estate for proposing and supporting the long-term loan.

The anniversary display forms part of a longer-term partnership with the Vettriano's estate.

In early 2029, Portrait of the Artist will be replaced by Homage to Fontana? (1999), the largest of three versions of the composition.

The later work references the slashed canvases of Argentine-Italian artist Lucio Fontana, whose experiments blurred the boundary between two- and three-dimensional space, and reflects Vettriano's interest in what might lie beneath the surface.

Born Jack Hoggan in the coastal mining town of Methil in Fife in 1951, Vettriano left school at 15 and followed his father into the mines before training as an engineer and later moving into management roles.

He began painting in the 1970s after receiving a set of watercolours as a 21st birthday gift, and largely taught himself by studying the Old Masters, Impressionists and Scottish artists, often drawing inspiration from visits to Kirkcaldy Galleries.

Living near the coast at Leven also shaped his artistic direction, as beaches would become a recurring motif in his work.

Vettriano staged scenes using models and photographed them before painting, with his work often evoking the mood and style of the 1940s and 1950s.

His paintings became known for their storytelling qualities, exploring themes of romance, glamour, love and betrayal.

His breakthrough came in 1988 when two paintings submitted to the annual exhibition of the Royal Scottish Academy sold on the first day.

Vettriano was soon offered gallery representation and held his first solo exhibition in Edinburgh in 1992, before gaining international recognition through shows in London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.

Despite mixed critical reception at times, his popularity with viewers in Scotland and abroad remained strong.

Collectors of his work have included high-profile figures such as Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Tim Rice.

He was appointed an OBE for services to visual arts in 2003.

Carolyn Osborne, director of Jack Vettriano Publishing Limited, said the anniversary display was especially fitting for an artist long known as "The People's Painter".

She added that visitors would be able to see the work in "a beautiful setting within a mile of where it was painted".