Gillian Ayres developed an interest in art at a very young age while studying at St Paul's Girls' School. After graduating from Camberwell School of Art, she taught at several art schools and, in 1978, became the first woman in the United Kingdom to hold the position of Head of Painting at Winchester School of Art.
Considered one of Britain's most celebrated abstract painters, Ayres was obsessed with painting. Her early works are characterised by a restrained use of colour and form, evolving over the years into a more exuberant and richly coloured body of work. Her oil paintings became even more elaborate and bold after she moved to Wales in 1981 and became a full-time painter. She was also a dedicated printmaker.
In 1963, her paintings were included in the Whitechapel Art Gallery's groundbreaking exhibition British Painting in the Sixties. Her work was also exhibited at Kettle's Yard, Cambridge (1978); Arnolfini, Bristol (1964); the Museum of Modern Art Oxford (1981); the Serpentine Gallery, London (1983); Manchester City Art Gallery (1993); the Royal Academy of Arts, London (1997); Southampton City Art Gallery (2005); Jerwood Gallery, Hastings (2010); the National Museum of Wales, Cardiff (2017); and the CAFA Art Museum, Beijing (2017).
In 1989, she was shortlisted for the Turner Prize, and in 1991 was elected a Royal Academician. Ayres was appointed CBE in 2011.
