Jack Vettriano Restored

Scotland’s best-loved artist has recovered from injury and depression to paint Sir Billy Connolly and look ahead with fresh optimism.

- Tessa Williams

HE’S an immensely popular artist whose paintings are found around the world. From Italy to Dubai, Jack Vettriano’s work can be seen in hotel foyers, greeting card stores and even fashion shows.

In Scotland, you can visit any restaurant, bar, hotel and expect to see a Vettriano print on the wall. In front rooms around the country and in the heart of even the most unequivocal art lover, the work of Vettriano has a special place.

Collected by film stars, footballers and heads of state, Jack Vettriano is as much a part of Scotland’s cultural heritage now as a tartan plaid or fine malt.

The sense of longing, the nostalgic images of couples walking hand in hand and provocatively dressed women in bedroom scenes, depict an evocative lifestyle of good times gone by and have earned him a well-deserved reputation as one of the most popular and successful living Scottish artists.

However, the last three years have seen him hit a bit of a wall. A freak accident where he fell over a bag at the steps of his Edinburgh home in November 2014, dislocating his shoulder and disconnecting him from his raison d’être as a painter sent him into a downward spiral.

Spending months behind the net curtains of his Edinburgh New Town home, Vettriano was at an all-time low. Feeling watched and paranoid, he presumed his body would heal itself and for practically a whole year did not get any physiotherapy to help the recovery process. He ended up watching daytime TV, drinking more and more alcohol to deal with the pain of being unable to work and having to be prescribed anti-depressants.

“I somehow thought that my body would heal itself,” he says from his London flat. “As I’d never had an accident before, I didn’t realise you have to work at helping your body to recover. Especially as I am getting on now, I really needed to work at it.”