Susannah Fiennes

Susannah Fiennes (b. 1961, Oxford) is a figurative painter whose work encompasses portraiture, landscape and scenes of everyday life. Her paintings are often concerned with gesture, human interaction and the arrangement of figures within space.

Fiennes studied at the Slade School of Fine Art, graduating in 1983, where she was taught by Euan Uglow. She subsequently received the Boise Travel Scholarship to Italy, the Royal Academy British Institution Fund Award and the BP Travel Award, which enabled her to travel and work in China. She has also taught at Dulwich College, the National Portrait Gallery and the Royal Drawing School.

Her career has included portrait commissions, teaching and extensive travel. During the 1990s she became one of the artists invited to accompany the then Prince of Wales on official tours, travelling with him to Oman and, notably, to Hong Kong for the Handover in 1997. Her sketches and watercolours from these journeys entered the Royal Collection, and examples from the Hong Kong tour were included in The King’s Tour Artists at The King’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace, in 2025.

Fiennes has exhibited in Britain and internationally, with solo exhibitions including the National Portrait Gallery, the Grosvenor Gallery, Rafael Valls Gallery and The Redfern Gallery. Her work has also been included in group exhibitions at the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of Wales. She has completed commissions for the Royal College of Psychiatrists and Hertford College, Oxford, and her work is held in collections including HM King Charles III, the National Portrait Gallery and the Parliamentary Art Collection.

Her first solo exhibition at The Redfern Gallery, Reaching Out, was held in 2019. The paintings explored gesture and everyday actions, including placing flowers in a vase or lighting a candle, in settings that were only lightly defined but held personal resonance for the artist. More recent works continue her interest in figures, interiors and observed moments, including paintings such as Lighting Fire (2024), Evening by River (2023) and Teatime (2023).

Susannah Fiennes is represented by The Redfern Gallery.