ONE of the most famous paintings by Fife artist Jack Vettriano has gone on public display for the first time in two decades.

The Singing Butler, pictured, forms part of an exhibition at Aberdeen Art Gallery entitled From Van Gogh to Vettriano – Hidden Gems from Private Collections.

The painting, which shows a couple dancing on a beach while a butler holds an umbrella over them, became the most expensive painting by a Scottish artist when it sold for £750,000 eight years ago.

The work has been loaned to the gallery by a private collector, and will remain on display under the exhibition ends in April.

Vettriano, 60, who grew up in Methil in Fife, counts Jack Nicholson, Sir Alex Ferguson, Sir Tim Rice and Robbie Coltrane among his collectors.Other artists featured in the exhibition include Monet, Matisse and Lucien Freud and Scottish colourists, Peploe and Fergusson.