Basil Blackshaw is the foremost Northern Irish painter of his generation. He studied at the Belfast College of Art and he is best known for his post expressionist landscape paintings, portraits, equine and animal paintings. The Arts Council of Northern Ireland organised a retrospective of his work in 1995 and the Ulster Museum held a major exhibition of his work in 2002. The F.E. McWilliam Gallery and Studio and the Royal Hibernian Academy held exhibitions to mark the artist’s 80th birthday.