Having trained at the Edinburgh College of Art (1960-5) and the Royal College of Art, London (1965-8) John Bellany taught at Croydon College of Art, Brighton College of Art, Winchester College of Art (1969-73), the Royal College of Art and at Goldsmiths College (1978-84).John Bellany's work has been the subject of numerous awards and major international exhibitions in Boston, Dublin, New York and Warsaw. John Bellany was honoured with the first one-man show held at the National Portrait Gallery in London (1986) John Bellany was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1991.

In Scotland, his work can be seen at the municipal galleries in Aberdeen, Ayr, Dundee, Glasgow and Kirkcaldy, together with Scottish National Portrait Gallery (Edinburgh), Hunterian Gallery

(Glasgow) and elected an Honorary Member of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1986.

He was awarded a CBE (1994) and holds honorary degrees from the Universities of Edinburgh (1996) and Heriot-Watt (1998).