Born in London in 1958 and raised in Ayrshire, Scotland, Peter Howson is widely regarded as one of Britain’s foremost figurative painters. Emerging in the 1980’s as a leading member of The New Glasgow Boys, his work is distinguished by its psychological intensity and uncompromising engagement with the human condition. An official war artist during the Bosnian War in 1993, Howson’s experiences of conflict, and his personal battles with addiction and subsequent recovery, led him to find his faith and profoundly impacted his work, which consistently addresses suffering alongside the prospect of redemption.

Religious subject matter has occupied a significant place within Howson’s practice for more than two decades. Following his conversion to Christianity in 2000, biblical narratives and devotional works became an increasingly important vehicle through which he explored themes of sacrifice, spiritual renewal and belief. Major projects reflecting a prolonged engagement with sacred subjects have included The Stations of the Cross (2003), Christos Aneste (2005), Harrowing of Hell (2008), and his monumental painting of the martyrdom of Saint John Ogilvie for St Andrew’s Cathedral in Glasgow, completed in 2011.

Created in 2026, Salvation revisits familiar episodes from the Gospels not as grand historical events, but as intimate scenes charged with vulnerability, doubt, courage and compassion. The series begins with Christ’s nocturnal conversation with Nicodemus, in which the possibility of spiritual rebirth is first articulated, and unfolds through scenes of teaching, healing and confrontation. Children, outcasts and those pushed to the margins emerge repeatedly throughout the cycle, reflecting Howson’s longstanding commitment to depicting the dignity and struggles of ordinary people. In these works, Christ is not presented as a remote divine figure but as a man moving among those around him, confronting hypocrisy, offering consolation and challenging established power.

As the narrative progresses, the emotional intensity deepens. The betrayal by Judas, Christ’s interrogation before Pilate and the events of the Crucifixion are rendered with a striking psychological immediacy. Howson focuses not on spectacle but on the experience of abandonment, suffering and sacrifice, emphasising the profound solitude at the heart of the Passion story. The final panels move beyond death towards resurrection and renewal. Encounters with Mary Magdalene and the triumphant vision of Alpha and Omega transform the cycle into a meditation on hope and the promise of eternal life. Howson’s expressive figuration and deeply empathetic vision bring renewed urgency to stories that have shaped Western culture for centuries. Both devotional and profoundly personal, Salvation reveals Howson engaging with some of the most enduring narratives in art history while exploring concerns that have remained central to his practice: resilience, faith and the capacity for change.