Robert Colquhoun was one of the most distinctive and expressive Scottish painters of the mid-twentieth century. Working primarily in painting, printmaking, and theatre design, he is celebrated for his bold draughtsmanship, emotional intensity, and exploration of the human form.
Born in Kilmarnock, Colquhoun studied at the Glasgow School of Art, where he met Robert MacBryde, his lifelong partner in both art and life. Together they became known as the “Two Roberts,” central figures in the post-war Neo-Romantic movement. After moving to London in the 1940s, Colquhoun became part of a vibrant artistic circle that included Francis Bacon, John Minton, and Keith Vaughan, exhibiting at the Redfern Gallery and the Institute of Contemporary Arts.
Colquhoun’s paintings often feature angular, elongated figures — dancers, lovers, musicians — rendered with a powerful sense of rhythm and tension. His palette, rich in earth tones and deep contrasts, evokes both the physical and psychological intensity of post-war experience. In his prints and monotypes, he achieved similar emotional charge through gestural mark-making and structural clarity.
Though his career was cut short by declining health and personal struggles, Colquhoun’s work remains a vivid testament to the expressive potential of figurative painting.
Today, Colquhoun's paintings and prints are held in major public collections, including the Tate, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, and the Victoria and Albert Museum.
