ALEXANDER GOUDIE
La
Belle Vie ACT II
ALEXANDER GOUDIE
Alexander Goudie (1933-2004)
Painted Performance
La Belle Vie – Act II continues our exploration of the vibrant world of Alexander Goudie. Following An Artist’s Life – Act I in 2021, this second act brings together two contrasting sides of Goudie’s studio practice: the light-filled, lively scenes of Brittany and the rich, bold works painted in Glasgow. Goudie was both a cultural commentator and a romantic dramatist, whose painting was always rooted in place, family, tradition, and painterly conviction. The vintage photographs kindly shared by the family reveal the flamboyance and drama of Goudie’s studio and home as an exuberant, uncompromising vision.
Born in Paisley in 1933, Goudie was a precocious talent who entered the Glasgow School of Art at just 16. An outspoken student, he was devoted to painting and inspired by the great figures of European art, including Manet, Velázquez, and Van Dyck. His training emphasised the alchemy of paint –the power of pigment, the tension of line and colour, and the potential to transform lived experience into art.
In 1962, he married Marie-Renée (Mainée) Dorval and was introduced to the landscape and people of Brittany. For decades, he split his life between Scotland and France, immersing himself in the rhythms of traditional Breton life. His summer studio and home evoked a world that had once inspired Gauguin and the Nabis.
By contrast, Goudie’s Glasgow paintings reflect an urbanity and cultural pride that matched his own theatrical flair. He regarded Glasgow as the Vienna of the North – a city of artistic heritage, civic architecture, and intellectual ambition. Whether capturing the skyline, painting the grand interior of his own home, or composing a still life in the studio, Goudie embraced the sensuous, the dramatic, and the painterly. He believed in storytelling, craftsmanship, and the emotional depth that oil paint can offer.
La Belle Vie – Act II invites viewers into Goudie’s studio practice – a place of bold gestures, rich colour, and unfiltered passion for the art of painting. We thank Lachlan Goudie for his writing on the following pages and the Goudie family for sharing archive material that has helped bring this exhibition to life.
THE SCOTTISH GALLERY
Alexander Goudie, Self Portrait at the Glasgow Art Club, c.1975,
LA BELLE VIE
The Two Studios of Alexander Goudie
by Lachlan Goudie
Alexander Goudie was born in Paisley, in 1933. He was the son of a plumber and grew up in Paisley, a textile town just South of Glasgow. There was little in his background to suggest that he would become a renowned portrait painter. But at school it became clear he had artistic talent and at the age of 16 he enrolled at the Glasgow School of Art. For five years he studied under tutors including David Donaldson, relishing lessons which introduced him to the work of artistic heroes like Manet, Velázquez and Van Dyke. Sandy graduated from the Glasgow School of Art in 1955 and received the school’s most prestigious award, the Newbery medal for Distinction.
After leaving art school Alexander Goudie specialised in painting portraits and throughout his career this would become his mainstay. He established an enviable reputation and a distinguished list of commissions which included celebrities such as Billy Connolly, political figures including the Lord Chancellor and in 1993, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
Goudie’s ambition as an artist, however, went far beyond simply painting portraits. Following his marriage in 1962 to a young Breton woman, Marie-Renée Dorval, he embarked upon a lifetime documenting the people and landscapes of his adoptive Breton homeland. Three decades of work culminated in 1989 with a commission to decorate a 25,000-tonne cross-channel ferry – Le Bretagne. The project incorporated over 300 hundred works of art, murals, sculptures, ceramics and textile designs. It was the world’s largest floating art gallery dedicated to one painter, and Le Bretagne plied the channel for over twenty five years.
Alexander Goudie always relished a major creative challenge. In 1990 he was asked by Scottish Opera, to design the complete sets and costumes for an unrealised production of Richard Strauss’s Salome. Later that
decade he embarked upon an even more obsessive project, bringing his vision of Robert Burns’ poem Tam o’Shanter to life in a cycle of vast paintings.
During his last years Alexander Goudie’s pace of work only seemed to accelerate. He turned his attention to the architectural fabric of Glasgow and undertook a series of canvasses which celebrated the city’s aesthetic and intellectual heritage, from Kelvingrove’s palace of art to the dreaming spire of the medieval university. Alexander Goudie died in 2004. To his last breath he was an artist of colour and flamboyance: someone who embraced a broad range of creative mediums, including sculpture and ceramics but, above all, dedicated his career to perpetuating the great traditions of figurative painting.
There were two studios in my father’s life. Two buildings that shaped his creative outlook and influenced his style as much as any painting tutor. The first was a sandstone mansion in Glasgow, the largest private residence ever built in the city, where he lived and worked for most of his life. The second was a summer house in Brittany, whose balconies and windows looked out towards the Atlantic, a magical view which he painted repeatedly for over three decades.
Both structures were nothing more than piles of stone and slate, but they inspired his work and, in many ways, became extensions of his character. Like my father, they were ostentatious and flamboyant, they struck a pose and stood out from the crowd.
It was my mother, Marie-Renée Dorval, who first introduced dad to both buildings. She helped my father open the doors to studios that would constantly lure him away from her, distracting him from his family and captivating his attention with long hours of painting.
Alexander Goudie, Self Reflected in Studio Window, c.2000
LA BELLE VIE
Brittany
Villa Ker Jan entered my father’s life in 1960, during the course of his second ever visit to Brittany. On a grey December afternoon Sandy Goudie and Mainée, who were not yet married, drove to the small fishing port of Loctudy, forty-five minutes south of Quimper. My mother’s parents were looking for a new home and were considering a sea-side property; Villa Ker Jan.
The building resembled something from a fairytale. It was positioned overlooking a beach and the structure was comprised of a large tower with a pointed roof, wooden balconies that faced out to sea and slender windows, arranged over three floors, framed with green shutters. That day my parents followed the path to the beach-front villa, and for the first time dad clinked open the wrought iron gates that led into the garden. In the coming decades he would walk that same path countless times, laden down with drawings boards, canvasses and easels, the pictures that would make his name.
Dr and Madame Louis Dorval were looking for a building that could accommodate their family of ten children. Villa Ker Jan offered the promise of space, comfort and a large garden where Margeaux could indulge her love of horticulture. But during that viewing in December 1960, as the shutters were opened in the front room, my father saw something very different; a studio. A side door led out onto an adjoining terrace,
and as the winter mists began to lift, dad caught his first glimpse of a panorama that would fuel his painting future; a 180-degree vista that embraced the fishing port, a sparkling estuary, a black and white lighthouse and the small village of Île-Tudy opposite. In this unsolicited moment, the course of his artistic career was settled. Villa Ker Jan would become the centre of his lifelong exploration of Brittany, a well spring of colour, creative development and joie de vivre.
Alexander Goudie, Seagulls over Ker Jan, c.1989 (cat. 15)
Over the next thirty years, the Goudies spent two months every summer at Villa Ker Jan. Whilst his children played on the beach, dad habitually picked up his easel and went in search of a Breton motif. Dr Dorval, a rural GP, introduced his new son in law to the villages and homesteads that lay inland from Loctudy, farming communities that would have been off limits to a stranger. In the fields around Pouldreuzic Sandy spent his first summers sketching the labourers as they cultivated crops of wheat, potatoes and artichokes, ploughing the land, tending the pig sties and hen coops that lay adjacent to their front doors.
As the years passed, however, the radius of my father’s painting expeditions shrank. His trips into the rural hinterland became less frequent and he spent more time on the harbour at Loctudy drawing the fishermen and their colourful boats. There were occasional walks along the beach to sketch the neighbouring summerhouses and coastal sunbathers. But eventually Villa Ker Jan itself became the sole subject of his paintings, he concentrated on documenting the daily routines of the Dorval family and the lazy pleasures of la belle vie.
When JMW Turner worked at his London home on Queen Anne Street, he would regularly move from one room to another, depending on the light. Similarly, my father would follow the sun, decamping his studio from the terrace to the front room, from the kitchen to the balcony as the luminescence and colour of the day evolved. At each transition the subject of his interest would change, from a still life on the kitchen table to a seascape glimpsed
through the bedroom window or perhaps a portrait of Tante Germaine; the venerable aunt who lived with the Dorvals. She could be relied upon to stay still in her wicker armchair on the terrace for hours, deaf to any distractions - the perfect artist’s model.
Throughout the 1980s my father would sit upon that terrace, beneath a blue and white parasol, and watch the tides unceasingly roll in and out. In a succession of sketchbooks he recorded the passage of fishing boats, holidaymakers and the local fishermen who would mark the start of summer each year by noting the arrival of le peintre Écossais, at Villa Ker Jan. For my father each painting campaign in Brittany was a tonic, an annual pilgrimage that would revitalise his palette and equip his soul, preparing him for the long winter hibernation that was to follow in Glasgow.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
Alexander Goudie, Back of the House, c.1985 (cat 22)
1. Portrait of the Artist in a Flower Patterned Shirt, c.1987 oil on canvas, 152 x 111 cm
My mother, Mainée, was my father’s creative collaborator and his muse. She modelled for him throughout his career, featuring in countless portraits, nudes and figure compositions. My father wanted, through these paintings, to project a vision of life that was celebratory and sensual; La Belle Vie. And this was a performance that continued beyond the confines of the studio at Arnewood House. My parents were a glamorous couple, they always dressed to impress and were never less than effervescent and opinionated, in whatever company they found themselves.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
2.
Portrait of Mainée in a Floral Patterned Dress, c.1987 oil on canvas, 152 x 111 cm
3. The Harbour through the Windows, c.1985 chalk on paper, 60 x 51 cm
4. Morning at the Harbour, c.1980 gouache on paper, 51 x 62 cm
The view from the terrace at Villa Ker Jan was the one subject which my father painted more than any other in his career. He was fascinated by the effects which resulted from the shifting light, the tides and the unpredicatable Atlantic weather. It was a scene that changed by the minute and could be transformed depending on your viewpoint within Villa Ker Jan. The panorama across the water to Ile Tudy allowed my father to experiment with a level of abstraction unfamiliar in any other part of his oeuvre.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
5. Loctudy, Open Sky, c.1987 gouache on paper, 64 x 89 cm
6. Fresh Catch of Rougets, c.1989 watercolour on paper, 35 x 28 cm
7. Studies of Crabs, c.1990 watercolour on paper, 22 x 31 cm
8. Cutlery in a Bowl, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 51 x 38 cm
9. Market Vegetables, c.1989 pastel and chalk on paper, 61 x 47 cm
10. Cockerel, c.1990 pastel and chalk on paper, 64 x 52 cm
11. Basket of Potatoes, c.1980 pastel and chalk on paper, 52 x 64 cm
12. Les Pigeons, c.1985 pastel on paper, 52 x 64 cm
13. Sleeping Cat, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 59 x 42 cm
14. Madonna and Child, c.1989 watercolour on paper, 32 x 20 cm
15. Seagulls over Ker Jan, c.1989 watercolour on paper, 77 x 56 cm
16. Wicker Chair, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 52 x 64 cm
17. Summer Sunbathing, c.1985 pastel an chalk on paper, 52 x 64 cm
18. Afternoon on the Beach, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 52 x 64 cm
19. Morning Papers, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 64 x 52 cm
20. Au Soleil, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 64 x 52 cm
21. Under the Parasol, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 64 x 52 cm
22. Back of the House, c.1985 pastel and chalk on paper, 52 x 78 cm
23. Tante Germaine in the Sunshine, c.1985 chalk on paper, 63 x 50 cm
LA BELLE VIE Glasgow
Seven years after my parents first visited Villa Ker Jan in Brittany, my mother opened the door to the second great studio in dad’s career. In 1967 they were living with their 2-year-old daughter, Gwen, in a cottage in Johnstone - a small town on the edge of Glasgow. It was an isolated spot, a train ride from the Glasgow School of Art where my father had studied and was now starting to teach. Dad’s studio in the cottage amounted to a box room, so it was a far cry from their spacious summer villa by the sea. And now that Mainée was expecting her second child she was keen, like her mother before her, to find a home that could accommodate her growing family.
My mother’s property parameters were clear; she wanted space, a garden and the promise of a more cosmopolitan lifestyle in the West end of Glasgow. ‘I have just the place for you!’ exclaimed her estate agent. So, on a grey February afternoon in 1967, the Goudies turned into the driveway of Arnewood House, a vast Jacobean style mansion off the Great Western Road. The building had been divided into four grandiose apartments and the Goudies’ arrival was greeted by a twitching of curtains. Old Mrs Torrance on the ground floor secretly surveyed the prospective neighbours, alighting from their dilapidated Vauxhall; a pregnant young woman, her long haired husband and their wild looking daughter. It was a cause for concern.
For these young visitors, the encounter with Arnewood House was flabbergasting. The hallway alone, a huge galleried space that rose across two floors to a stainedglass ceiling, would have accommodated their cottage in Johnstone multiple times. My mother remembers running from room to room, calling excitedly to her husband. They gasped at the wood
panelling, the lofty sash windows and corniced ceilings that soared to fifteen feet in height; ideal for accommodating artists’ easels. ‘This will make a wonderful sitting room’ thought my mother to herself, as she admired the largest of the bay-windowed reception rooms. ‘This is going to be my studio’ said my father out loud, before she could stake her claim. There was no further discussion.
Historically artists have often had a taste for grand homes and studios. When Rembrandt established himself in Amsterdam, aged 33, he purchased a merchant’s mansion so large and costly to maintain, it eventually bankrupted him. Throughout his career Picasso lived in one château after another, filling rooms with artworks until the absence of wall space meant it was necessary to move on.
When my parents secured their palatial new home, they were in their early thirties and owned just a few pieces of furniture. At first they found themselves contemplating echoing spaces and empty white walls, but it didn’t take long for my father to start imprinting his personality onto Arnewood House. The dining room was painted black, the kitchen yellow and the living room was coloured bright green and then draped with black and white striped curtains. A pair of white java doves were installed in a huge aviary and for years to come their song would echo around the columns, gilded plasterwork and stained-glass ceiling in the hallway.
My father now had an atelier whose scale matched the sort of artist he always imagined himself to be. The second act of his career could begin in earnest. He stopped teaching at the school of art and got to work in his new studio, painting elegant still lives and figure compositions inspired by the family summers spent in Brittany. A production line of large canvasses gradually filled the workspace, before spilling into the hallway and up the broad staircase to the bedrooms above. When clients visited, he would greet them at the door of his Glaswegian mansion, dressed in a suit and bowtie and direct them onto the stage in his studio where their full-length portraits would be painted.
Arnewood House became a manifestation of all the creative dreams, and sometimes delusions, that circulated in dad’s imagination. Each room was decorated with a growing inventory of treasures and antiques that fuelled his artistry; Persian rugs lay underfoot, gilt sofas and Chinese lacquer cabinets lined the walls, encrustations of silver and glassware were crammed onto every surface, where they twinkled in the light from crystal chandeliers. With my mother’s help, he curated the interior of our home like a living still life, one that constantly provided inspiration for his drawings and paintings.
At Villa Ker Jan my father was always a summer extrovert. He treated the terrace as an outdoor studio, where he painted in a straw hat with his shirt off and a goblet of Pastis in his hand. At Arnewood House, however, my dad became a painting recluse. The rooms were so cavernous and the windows so huge he could spend entire weeks inside without ever leaving the front door. He estranged himself from the banal requirements of daily life, the piles of bills and paperwork, school runs and bath time. Instead, he worked on his feet in the studio all day long with only his reflection in the windows and the uninterrupted transmission of Radio 3 on the hallway stereo, for company.
Late in the day, as he cleaned his brushes, he would often look down from his 4th storey studio and watch the homebound commuters on Cleveden Road. Occasionally, and gleefully, he might eyeball one of the rival artists who lived nearby and who couldn’t help but crane their necks upwards, curious to catch a glimpse of the easel tops and spot lit canvasses visible from the street. In his own imagination my father had become ‘Goudie’, and as he surveyed the outside world and the sandstone sweep of neighbouring mansions, he would sometimes mutter out loud, ‘Goudie’s Glasgow!’
My father loved the city of Glasgow. And in the late 1980s after decades of working
from Arnewood House, painting only the rooftops visible from his studio windows, he decided it was finally time for Goudie’s Glasgow to have its portrait painted. He would regularly walk through Kelvingrove Park or to the Western baths, and during these recces he would take mental notes of the subjects that would later be transferred onto canvas. Just as Arnewood House had become a projection of Alexander Goudie’s theatrical artistic identity, so the urban reality of Glasgow would be tailored to suit my father’s persona.
In the 1960s and 70s Glasgow was a place widely associated with slum tenements and stories of industrial decline. Joan Eardley portrayed that cityscape, its ragged children and litter strewn gutters, with coruscating accuracy.
And whilst my father was no stranger to Glasgow’s hard side, his painting itinerary consciously skirted its edges.
Dad dressed the city in a ball gown. From the sparkling Kibble Palace to the bell towers of Park Circus, he put a line around the verve and beauty of Glasgow’s skyline, celebrating what he believed was the most extraordinary manifestation of Victorian architectural ambition in Britain.
The studios of Alexander Goudie were occupied by two different painters. Depending on his location, Goudie could change artistic personality. At Arnewood he was, primarily, the 19th century Glasgow Boy, an acolyte of all those lessons he had imbibed at the School of Art; fine line, cool tonal control and the traditions of the oldest masters. In Brittany, however, Goudie bloomed as a colourist, a Scottish impressionist who felt more able to challenge the painting rulebook. He squeezed sunlight, brio and saturated colour onto his palette and apprenticed himself to all those artists who had preceded him in Loctudy and along the coast of Sud Finistère; Maurice Denis, Sérusier and Gauguin.
Alexander Goudie’s diverse creative personalities, however, were not exclusive. They balanced and blended over time, settling into the composition of a mature painter, an artist at ease with himself and his vision. My father knew the value of life. Whether he was working in Glasgow or Brittany he could find treasure in the simplest of subjects and it was his gift to be able to share the pleasures of la belle vie on canvas, for us all to delight in.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
GLASGOW CATHEDRAL
My father was fascinated by Glasgow Cathedral; its brooding presence, medieval history and the role it played in marking significant events throughout the year. It’s the first building in Glasgow he ever encouraged me to draw, even accompanying me on a research trip amongst the tombstones of the Necropolis, to find the best view. On Christmas Eve we would always attend the midnight service, and dad made sure he had a sketchbook to hand so he could draw the portrait of the elderly minister in the pulpit, who would later feature in several of his Tam o’Shanter paintings. The Cathedral was also the place where my father would bid farewell to important figures in his life. In this instance he painted a tribute to his teacher David Donaldson, whose funeral cortege is depicted leaving the cathedral doors.
Arnewood House was a handsome, sandstone mansion in the West End of Glasgow. The facade, which looked out onto Cleveden Road, was screened by a series of towering poplar trees, but between the branches it was still possible to catch glimpses of life as it unfolded behind the bay windows. Few people, however, could have imagined exactly what lay within, from the creative clutter of my father’s studio to the colourful, richly ornamented reception rooms that my parents had taken such care to curate.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
24. Arnewood House through the Trees, c.2000 oil on board, 114 x 81 cm
25. At Work in the Studio, c.2002 oil on board, 91 x 158 cm
Newly installed in his spacious studio at Arnewood House, my father was thrilled by the possibilities of working on an ever-larger scale. This full-length image of Mainée demonstrates the style of elegant portraiture he hoped might seduce prospective clients at the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. But it also showcases his technical range as an artist, balancing careful tonal modelling in the features and hands with the bravura handling of the dress and the energetic brushwork deployed across the background.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
26. Mainée in a Blue Dress, c.1965 oil on canvas, 152 x 126 cm
27. Return from the Shoot, c.1985 oil on canvas, 102 x 71 cm
28. Homage to Beethoven, c.1985 oil on canvas, 81 x 101 cm
Alexander Goudie was a virtuoso of still life painting and these works are some of his most sought after. Masked Ball was inspired by the Carnival in Venice. Goudie visited the city on numerous occasions. He was an admirer and a kindred spirit of those Renaissance artists Titian, Veronese and Tiepolo whose work was distinguished by a rich use of colour and sense of theatricality. He distilled his love of Venice, its mysterious atmosphere and extraordinary artistic heritage into this painting.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
29. Masked Ball, c.1990 oil on canvas, 81 x 81 cm
30. Studio Self Portrait, c.1995 charcoal on paper, 52 x 64 cm
31. Self Portrait Reflected in Studio Window, c.1990 pastel and chalk on paper, 59 x 84 cm
32. Chest of Drawers, c.1995 pastel and chalk on paper, 64 x 52 cm
33. Into the Living Room, c.2000 pastel and chalk on paper, 72 x 57.5 cm
34. Dining Room Interior, c.2000 pastel and chalk on paper, 52 x 64 cm
35. Dining Room Table, Lunch at Arnewood, c.2000 pastel and chalk on paper, 52.5 x 86 cm
Goudie’s vision of Glasgow was anchored in the West End, the neighbourhood where he lived and painted for over forty years. It is home to several institutions and buildings that remain key to Glasgow’s civic identity, and which featured regularly in the artist’s life. This included Kelvingrove Museum and Art Gallery, which he regularly visited, the Western Baths, where he routinely exercised and the Botanic Gardens, which he would walk through on his return to the studio. For Alexander Goudie it was natural that his paintings of Glasgow should reflect the world he inhabited and celebrate the character and elegance of the city he proudly called home.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
36. Bonjour Glasgow, 2002 oil on canvas, 112 x 107 cm
37. Western Baths, Ladies Day, c.1987 oil and chalk on canvas, 153 x 112 cm
38. Men’s Changing Room at the Baths, c.1987 oil and chalk on canvas, 153 x 112 cm
My father loved the city of Glasgow. He regularly walked through the neighbourhood, visiting the Botanic Gardens and The Kibble Palace, and during these recces he would make mental notes of the subjects that would later be transferred onto canvas. Just as Arnewood House had become a projection of Alexander Goudie’s theatrical artistic identity, so the urban reality of Glasgow would be tailored to suit my father’s persona.
LACHLAN GOUDIE
39. Kibble Palace, c.2000 oil and chalk on board, 114.5 x 114.5 cm
40. Goldfish at the Kibble Palace, c.2000 oil and chalk on board, 114.5 x 114.5 cm
41. Woodland Flowers, c.1989 acrylic on board, 76 x 63 cm
42. Bouquet, c.1989 watercolour on board, 78 x 64 cm
43. University Avenue, c.2000 oil on board, 56 x 102 cm
44. Glasgow Cathedral, c.2000 oil and charcoal on canvas, 152 x 152 cm
ALEXANDER GOUDIE (1933-2004)
1933 Born Paisley
1950-55 Studied Drawing, Painting and Sculpture, Glasgow School of Art Awards: Somerville Shanks Prize for Composition; Newbery Medal for Distinction; Postgraduate Scholarship; Keith Award – Royal Scottish Academy
1953 First visit to Paris
1956 Elected Member of Glasgow Art Club
1957 Painting trip to Toledo and Madrid
1958 Tour of France; visiting Rouen, Royan, Bordeaux, Bayonne, Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, Saint-Lizier, Nimes, Arles, Avignon, Annecy, Reims
1959 First visit to Brittany
1962 Marries Marie-Renée Dorval
First of annual painting trips to Loctudy
1966 First major exhibition of Breton Paintings, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
1970 Exhibition, La Forêt-Fouesnant, Brittany
Elected Member of Royal Society of Portrait Painters
1974 Second Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
1977 Festival Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Breton Images, Glasgow Art Club
1979 Portrait, BBC Television series featuring comedian Billy Connolly, mountaineer Chris Bonington and Sir Edwin Brammal.
1982 Drawings, Pastels, Watercolours, The Macaulay Gallery, Stenton
1983 Studio Exhibition, 33 Tite Street, Chelsea, London
Goudie at 50, major retrospective, The Fine Art Society, Glasgow
1986 Breton Idyll, The French Institute, Edinburgh and the Fine Art Society, Glasgow
1987 Breton Sketchbook, The Macaulay Gallery, Stenton
1988 Portrait of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Mackay of Clashfern
1987-89 Décor for Brittany Ferries flagship, Bretagne
1990 Exhibition, Saint-Pol-de-Léon, Brittany
Awarded the Freedom of Saint-Pol-de-Léon
Publication of Goudie’s Brittany
1991 Goudie’s Venice, Harari and Johns, London
1992 Goudie’s Brittany, The Fine Art Society, Glasgow
1993 Portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, for the Caledonia Club, London
Posthumous portrait of The 14th Duke of Hamilton
1994 Salome, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition, The TSB Atrium, Edinburgh
1995 Décor for the First Class Passenger salons of the Val de Loire, Brittany Ferries
Collaboration with the Musée de la Faïence de Quimper, Brittany
1996 Tam o’Shanter, Edinburgh Festival Exhibition, Freemason’s Hall, Edinburgh
1998 Goudie Céramique, the Musée de la Faïence de Quimper, Brittany
1999 Tam o’Shanter, The Tale in Pictures, The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
Goudie Céramique, The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2000 The Goudie Collection of Tam o’Shanter paintings opens on permanent display at Rozelle House, Ayrshire
2001 The Artist and his Muse, The Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2002 Breton Works, The John Davies Gallery, Stow on the Wold
2003 Tam o’Shanter; New Works, The Glasgow Art Club, Glasgow
Portrait of the 15th Duke and Duchess of Hamilton
2004 Died at his home in Glasgow
2005 Breton Drawings and Watercolours, Ewan Mundy Fine Art, Glasgow
2006 Alexander Goudie Memorial Exhibition, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Brittany Ferries collection exhibition L’Art est un Voyage, Musée National de la Marine, Paris Goudie’s Glasgow, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2007 L’été Mediterranean, Ewan Mundy Fine Art, Glasgow
2008 Joie de Vivre! The Art of Alexander Goudie, Paisley Museum, Paisley Publication of Tam o’Shanter, illustrated by Alexander Goudie
A Portrait of Spain, Roger Billcliffe Gallery, Glasgow
2009 Tam o’Shanter – Works on Paper, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2011 Still Lifes and Interiors, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2016 Alexander Goudie RP RGI: A Retrospective, Mall Galleries, London
2021 Alexander Goudie An Artist’s Life, Act I, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
2025 Alexander Goudie La Belle Vie, Act II, The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh
Public Collections
BBC Scotland
City of Glasgow College
Dumfries and Galloway Council, Kirkcudbright
East Dunbartonshire Council
Glasgow Museums
McLean Museum and Art Gallery
Museums & Galleries Edinburgh
Paisley Museum and Art Galleries
Perth & Kinross Council
RIBA Collections
Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
Scottish National Portrait Gallery, Edinburgh
South Ayrshire Council
The Fleming Collection, London
The Hunterian, University of Glasgow
University of St Andrews
University of Stirling
University of Strathclyde
Published by The Scottish Gallery to coincide with the exhibition
Alexander Goudie
La Belle Vie ACT II
3 - 26 July 2025
Exhibition can be viewed online at: scottish-gallery.co.uk/alexandergoudie
ISBN: 978-1-917803-02-1
Designed and Produced by The Scottish Gallery
Printed by Pure Print
Artist photographs courtesy of the artist’s estate
Front cover: Kibble Palace, c.2000 (cat. 39)
Inside front: Portrait of the Artist in a Flower Patterned Shirt, c.1987 (cat. 1)
Inside back: Portrait of Mainée in a Floral Patterned Dress, c.1987 (cat.2)
All rights reserved. No part of this catalogue may be reproduced in any form by print, photocopy or by any other means, without the permission of the copyright holders.
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