Jack Vettriano - News

The opening this month of an exhibition of new paintings by Jack Vettriano provides a flashpoint for the debate about whether his is high or low art. The critics and curators revile him, but the public adore him. Five million of his posters have sold and, fuelled by that popularity, the original paintings are the most expensive of any Scotsman. "The Singing Butler" sold at Sotheby's last year for £745,000. Sales are so lucrative that the Portland Gallery, Vettriano's dealer, has moved to larger premises, which include The Vettriano Room, a permanent rotating display of his work.

But the debate about whether or not Vettriano is high art has obscured a more interesting question: why is he so adored? Tom Hewlett, director of the Portland Gallery, says it is because they are "narrative paintings that engage the viewer". "Everybody can read into it something that means something to them," he says.

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