Michael Finlay

Michael passed away peacefully at home in November 2025.

Michael had two paintings shortlisted for the Royal Academy of Arts – Summer Exhibition 2019. Machine Learning and Are we Connected? Both responding to themes of identity and environment.

You can watch a video about his journey as an artist here:

He was a film industry veteran having worked for over 50 years in the British film industry as a scenic painter on productions including Raiders of the Lost Ark and Star Wars, Return of the Jedi.

Each of his unique paintings is inspired by one of the many productions he worked on during his long career. They are at times sensual, evocative, dramatic and inspired by fantasy.

As a boy growing up in the little village of Elstree in Hertfordshire all Michael ever wanted to do was paint. He left school in 1963 at the age of 15. His father was a scenic painter in the film industry and helped him get a job as an apprentice scenic painter at Elstree Studios, the British Hollywood. It was a five-year apprenticeship during which he was taught the art of set painting for film and television. Elstree Studios was a magical place to work. To be among so many artistically talented people was an incredible privilege. Michael worked alongside artists, sculptors, metal workers, lighting cameramen, famous directors, actresses, actors and special effects people. The first productions he started working on were TV series like The Avengers, The Saint, Randall and Hopkirk (Deceased) and The Champions. Then down the line, he worked on Hammer films like One Million Years B.C., The Devil Rides Out, Mask of the Red Death, Frankenstein, and Dracula. Later in the 1980s, he would work on the first and second of the Indiana Jones films, Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, Return to Oz, Willow, and Highlander. He saw the great stars, Elizabeth Taylor, Robert Mitchum, Betty Davis, Yul Brynner, Sophia Loren, Harrison Ford, the...

Royal Academy of Arts - Summer Exhibition 2019 (Two paintings shortlisted)