Ally Thomson ‘The Glaswegian Surrealist’

For Auction this Saturday 31^st July 2021 in our General Sale is a large painting entitled ‘Uptown Girl and Friend’ by Ally Thompson, an important and internationally recognised Surrealist Artist whose pictures have been bought by many important collectors. These include the Picasso Collection, La Fondation de France and the CBS Collection in New York with private collectors included Mme Danielle Mitterand, Bono, Sir Bob Geldorf and Petula Clark.

Ally Thompson was a member of the ‘New Glasgow Boys’ who, in the 1980s, contributed through their lively imaginative imagery to raising the international awareness of Scotland’s standing in the visual arts. They had all studied at The Glasgow School of Art in the 1980s and much of their work – Thompson’s in particular – was inspired by their working class background.

His work was acclaimed as vibrant, challenging and moving with James Higgins commenting “Ally believed in the beauty and mystery of nature and the uncrushable spirit of humankind. His message was one of implacable opposition to the empty materialism of our current age. He believed, above all, in the spiritual power of art itself.”

He died 31 January, 2016 in Glasgow aged 60 after battling alcoholism and depression.