Award-winning artist Douglas Gray was born in Harrogate in 1965 and began his professional artistic career in the study of illustration achieving significant success in the forthcoming years working with clients such as Saatchi and Saatchi, Warner Brothers, and illustrating book covers for Jackie Collins and other popular authors.

Douglas’s transition into the world of contemporary fine art was a natural progression for his talents, with oil paint becoming his medium of choice in creating light, mood and atmosphere in all his works. His attraction to figurative art enables him to portray human nature in all its emotional complexities and also to create that same sense of atmosphere, place and time in his paintings of iconic cityscapes.

‘My aim is to emotionally connect with the viewer through my work’ he says, ‘whether they be happy, melancholic or even sad. As human beings we all experience these timeless emotions and I hope my paintings ignite people’s imagination and evoke their own personal memories’.

His private commissions include the illustrious Savoy Hotel in London where his painting entitled ‘Cloudbreak, River Thames’ is on permanent display in the hotel’s renowned River Room.

After being elected as a full member of the Royal Society of Marine Artists (RSMA) in 2013 he decided to move on in 2020 to concentrate on figurative and city painting. Douglas is represented internationally with galleries in the UK, USA, Paris and Amsterdam and holds an impressive history of important exhibitions which include his popular solo shows. He has been the recipient of several prestigious painting awards and the subject of many magazine features and his work is regularly commissioned by corporations and interior designers.

Douglas’s ownership of light, atmosphere, place and visual narrative all add up to truly memorable paintings which endorse his ever growing number of collectors worldwide.

Quote from Kiaran MacDonald, Former Managing Director of The Savoy Hotel, London

‘Claude Monet famously painted several views of the River Thames from his room on the upper floors of The Savoy during his many visits. As part of the recent refurbishment of the River Room, one of The Savoy’s elegant events rooms, we wanted to commission a contemporary, atmospheric view of the Thames using an artist with great traditional skill. Douglas Gray was the perfect choice and we are delighted with the result’.