How David Bowie inspired Scottish artist Jack Vettriano’s dying wish

Scotland’s most celebrated self-taught artist Jack Vettriano has been cremated in secret after the painter made it clear he wanted his passing to go without fanfare, it has emerged.

The 73-year-old was found dead at his apartment in Nice in the south of France last month after shying away from the public eye in his final years.

It has now been revealed that the Fife-born artist – who achieved global recognition for his works including his most famous painting The Singing Butler – chose to be cremated with no pomp or ceremony after being inspired by rock legend David Bowie.

The singer, who died in 2016 and had a direct cremation with no mourners which prompted Vettriano to opt for the same discreet send-off.

A close friend told the Mail: ‘There won’t be a memorial service. Those were his absolute wishes. 

‘He had planned maybe 10 or 15 years ago for a bigger funeral and then, strangely, when he heard what David Bowie did, which was nothing, absolutely nothing, he said, “That’s what I want to do now”.

‘Bowie went straight to cremation and Jack decided that was for him.’

It is understood that Vettriano’s body, like Bowie’s, was taken directly to a crematorium shortly after his body was found without any ceremony.

Vettriano’s art received international acclaim, leading to exhibitionsaround the world

Vettriano’s choice for what happened to his remains was inspired by rock legend David Bowie

His ashes have since been returned to his native Scotland, where there has been an outpouring of grief for the ‘evocative and timeless’ painter.

First Minister John Swinney said his loss would be ‘sorely felt by many’.

Details of the artist’s death have yet to be revealed but it is understood there are no suspicious circumstances.

Following his death, friends told how the former miner’s son from Methil, Fife, who is widely recognised as Scotland’s most commercially successful artist, became ‘reclusive’ and smoked and drank heavily. 

During his career Vettriano’s art received international acclaim, leading to exhibitions in London, Hong Kong, Johannesburg and New York.

His 1992 painting The Singing Butler was the stand-out work of his career and one which would go on to stun art experts a little over a decade after it had been produced.

The oil-on-canvas depicts an elegant couple dancing on a storm-swept beach accompanied by their butler and maid.

Vettriano’s painting The Singing Butler was the stand-out work of his career

As the most popular art print in the UK, it sold for £90,000 when it was auctioned in 2003.

The following year it smashed all expectations when it fetched a record £744,800 at Sotheby’s, having had an asking price of £200,000.

And just one day after Vettriano’s death, a rare ‘reimagining’ of the famous painting by street artist Banksy sold for nearly £4.3million at an auction.

Among those who own his works are Hollywood actor Jack Nicholson and football legend Sir Alex Ferguson.

Sir Billy Connolly, Sir Jackie Stewart and Zara Tindall are some of the famous faces he has painted.

But despite his success, the artist was scorned by critics, with the Guardian’s arts critic Jonathan Jones describing him as ‘emotionally trite and technically drab’.

Another writer said that despite Vettriano’s success ‘we should not make the mistake of classing him as a major – or even decent – artist’.

One of his closest friends Remi Akande, 52, said ‘snobby’ critics ‘took a lot of his confidence’.

Having left school at 15 to be an apprentice mining engineer, his passion for art only began on his 21st birthday when his then girlfriend gifted him a set of watercolours. From then on, he dedicated his spare time to teaching himself to paint.

But over the years he became almost as famous for his colourful personal life as he was for his paintings.

Jack Vettriano at the Kelvingrove Art Gallery in Glasgow in 2013 as he promoted a retrospective that saw more than 100 paintings spanning his entire career put on display

In 2012, he was convicted for drink-driving and possessing amphetamine. When he was stopped by a police officer, he said: ‘You know who I am. We can sort this out.’

And he developed a drink problem after falling into depression when a shoulder injury in 2015 left him temporarily unable to paint.

In his final years, however, he never put paint to canvas, instead favouring drink and cigarettes as he struggled to cope with criticism of his work.

‘He hadn’t painted for a number of years,’ says the friend, who asked not to be named. 

‘He had dislocated his shoulder, his right shoulder, and that didn’t help things. He would have liked to have been able to take up his paintbrush again and he tried, but I think he just lost a bit of his creativity with it all.’

Previously, Ms Akande said the self-taught artist had become ‘very, very reclusive’ and that the ‘criticism had got into his head’.

And the other close friend who spoke to the Mail added: ‘He was at war with the academicians, and both said too much, really.

‘But I think Jack was quite pragmatic. He knew that, to quote somebody else, he was the people’s painter’.

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