Alan Halliday

The Spanish Garden, Villa Ephrussi Mediterranean Colours of blue Green

Alan Halliday, born in 1952, is a distinguished contemporary British artist renowned for his vivid and dynamic depictions of the performing arts. His artistic career spans decades, during which he has become a leading figure in capturing the essence of theatre, ballet and opera. Through his unique style, marked by fluidity, boldness, and an acute sensitivity to movement and emotion, Halliday’s work celebrates the intersection of visual art and live performance. His passion for the arts emerged early in his life. Raised in an environment that encouraged creativity and intellectual curiosity, he pursued his interest in art and history with dedication. Between 1970-74 he trained at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, one of the most prestigious institutions for art history. In 1982 Halliday was awarded a doctorate in the history of art by Oxford University. Halliday’s artistic style is characterised by its immediacy and expressiveness. He works principally in oil on canvas and gouache on paper but also sketches in watercolours and ink. These mediums allow him to convey the dynamism of live performance. His brushstrokes are swift and gestural, capturing movement with an almost cinematic quality. Rather than focusing on precise detail, Halliday emphasises the emotional and physical energy of his subjects. This approach allows his work to resonate deeply with viewers as it evokes the fleeting nature of performance. Art critic John Russell Taylor writing in The Times said, “Halliday paints what obsesses him. His style is boldly calligraphic. Even his large-scale oil paintings depend largely on the definition of effective line while his smaller works in ink, gouache and pastel are built on a structure of amazingly fluid, spontaneous strokes of the pen; but they are in fact more than that. While the line may define the form, it is the colour which gives it form and life.” Coming from an acting background himself, he easily depicts the energy and emotion of the stage. He has sketched and painted performers from the Royal Ballet and the Royal Shakespeare Company. Beyond his stage inspired pieces, his subject matter is extensive. Halliday now lives in France by the Loire and produces landscapes, interiors, still lives, figurative and abstract works. Halliday has been a successful professional artist for 40 years, holding more than 100 exhibitions in the USA, Europe, India and the Middle East. His paintings are in the collections of the Victoria Albert Museum; the Theatre Museum, The Museum of London as well as Oxford University colleges and the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, USA. His paintings are also acquired by private collectors worldwide. Halliday is an outstanding draftsman and colourist who works by eye alone and has no need of a camera. One of the leading artists of his generation, his deep understanding of the art of the past combines with his own natural ability and fluent, painterly touch, enabling him to produce paintings of great beauty and power.