Saied Dai RP NEAC
Saied Dai is Persian by birth, born in Tehran in 1958 and came to England at the age of six. He began his seven years of art training at Bournemouth and Poole College of Art and Design and shortly after was awarded a place at the Royal Academy of Arts where he received his Post Graduate Diploma in Painting. There, he was privileged to come into contact with artists of real distinction such as Peter Greenham, Norman Blamey and Roderic Barrett.
On recommendation from Norman Blamey RA, Saied was also placed to teach at the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture in Regent’s Park. After being elected to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2004, he won the prestigious Ondaatje Prize for Portraiture and the Society’s Gold Medal in 2006, followed by the Prince of Wales Drawing Award in 2007.
Image: Saied Dai RP, Self-Portrait
The Portrait of Theresa May
In 2023 Saied Dai's portrait of Theresa May was unveiled in the house of Parliament. Theresa May is the Britain's second female Prime Minister.
Read a selection of published articles:
The Guardian - 8th September, 2023 - by Dale Berning Sawa
SAIED DAI ON HIS THERESA MAY PORTRAIT
The garlanded artist reveals the ‘intimate and intense’ process of looking for the person behind the politician to make his surprisingly humanising painting of the former PM. (...)
Read 'The Guardian' article here
BBC News - 5th September, 2023 - by Fiona Nimoni
THERESA MAY: PORTRAIT OF FORMER PRIME MINISTER UNVEILED
Saied Dai painted the picture which will hang in Portcullis House, Parliament's office complex where many MPs work. (...)
Read more about the portrait here
RP Member Saied Dai was awarded The William Lock Portrait Prize by the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2023 for his painting called 'Charlotte'.
"£20,000 is awarded for the most timeless portrait with a real feeling for paint and its aesthetic potential."
Read more about it here
Contact Us for a Portrait Commission
Martina Merelli, Fine Art Commissions Manager
+44 207 968 0963