Biography

Cecil Collins won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art in 1927 and subsequently took part in the Surrealist Exhibition of 1936 in London, but left this movement to follow his own path as a visionary artist. Acknowledged as such by a small yet noteworthy circle of artists and critics, he enjoyed two retrospective shows in London in 1959 and 1989.

Today the Tate Gallery houses a permanent collection of his work, while he is widely represented in many smaller museums and galleries throughout Britain.

Collins' painting, poetry and prose is concerned with the gifts of creativity that heal the degradation of a sterile society. His masterly hand used the symbol image in a twentieth century style to convey his vision. His written work, published for the most part after his death, speaks to today's world with an incisive view into the creative experience and art and the modern man.

Collins worked and taught in London until the end of his life.