Jack Vettriano is a term for fans and collectors of contemporary art. One of his most famous works, “The Singing Butler”, was sold at Sotheby’s in 2004 for almost 750,000 pounds. The scene depicts a dancing couple, moving gracefully along a beach on a gloomy, windy day, protected by an open umbrella by a maid and butler who, in Vettriano’s imagination, sing the melody of “Fly me to the moon” by Frank Sinatra.
Starting tomorrow, November 20, through January 25, 2026, the Permanente Museum is hosting a retrospective dedicated to Vettriano (1951-2025), the recently deceased Scottish artist known for his cinematic and melancholic works. The exhibition curated by Francesca Bogliolo, organized by Chiara Campagnoli, Deborah Petroni and Rubens Fogacci of Pallavicini srl, in collaboration with Jack Vettriano Publishing and the coordination of Beside Arts, offers more than 80 works, including nine oils on canvas, a series of works on museum paper in one edition, a cycle of photographs taken in the artist’s studio by Francesco Guidicini, official portrait painter of the “Sunday Times”, whose creations are present at the National Portrait Gallery in London and video in which Vettriano talks about himself and the evolution of his style.
Born in Fife, Scotland, in 1951, Jack Vettriano took, after slightly changing it, his mother’s surname, Vettraino, derived from Belmonte Castello in the Comino Valley, in the province of Frosinone. For his twenty-first birthday, a girl gave him a box of watercolors and he began painting autodidactically in his free time. Since then he has continuously imitated the works of old masters, impressionist paintings, works of surrealists and Scottish artists. He developed a personal style by combining suggestions from Hopper’s paintings with influences derived from cinematography and advertising poster culture. The turning point came in 1988, when he showed two paintings at the Royal Scottish Academy’s Annual Exhibition: both sold on the first day and Vettriano was approached by several galleries. He had his first solo exhibition at the Edinburgh Gallery in 1992.
In 1998, Vettriano moved to London, where he created an exhibition that confirmed his success. In 2008, Vettriano was commissioned to paint portraits of Sir Jackie Stewart and Zara Phillips; a year later he launched the Heartbreak publishing house and gallery of the same name. In September 2013, a major exhibition, “Jack Vettriano: A Retrospectiv”, opened at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, where there were over a hundred works. The exhibition attracted 123,300 visitors and broke the attendance record held by the Van Gogh exhibition in 1948.
In 2017, he was one of three artists commissioned to paint a portrait of Scottish comedian Billy Connolly. These images were later displayed at the People’s Palace in Glasgow, while they were transferred to murals in the city centre. He died in Nice in 2025.
