Graham Sutherland is born in London in 1903. In the first half of the 1920s he studies graphic techniques. As an artist, he uses these techniques to create romantic landscapes. From 1926 to 1940, he teaches graphic techniques and later composition and book illustration at the Chelsea School of Art.
In the mid-1930s, Sutherland switches to oil paint. In Wales, under the influence of surrealism, he paints ghostly, semi-abstract landscapes, with which he gains fame. In 1946, he has his first exhibition in New York and he completes a crucifixion painting for the Northampton Cathedral. It will be the first of a series of religious paintings.
In the 1950s, Sutherland expands his reputation as a painter with portraits of famous people, including Somerset Maugham, Churchill and Adenauer. From 1952 he has exhibitions in important museums and represents Great Britain at major events such as the Biennale and the Documenta.
In 1955, Sutherland leaves Great Britain to settle near Nice. When he returns to Wales in 1967, he finds new creative powers, and reinforces his reputation as a prominent British artist.
He dies in London in 1980.
