A muted oil portrait of Tom Owen of Abererch, near Pwllheli. Williams was a Welsh landscape painter who lived at Pwllfanogl, Llanfairpwll, on the Island of Anglesey. He is widely regarded as the defining artist of Wales during the twentieth century. He was born in Llangefni, Anglesey, into an old landed Anglesey family, and was educated at Moreton Hall School and then Shrewsbury School before joining the 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers as a Lieutenant in 1937. After he failed a British Army medical examination in 1941 (because of epilepsy), his doctor advised him to take up art for the sake of his health. Despite academic difficulties, Williams enrolled at London's Slade School of Art in 1941 and taught art at Highgate School, London, where he was senior art master from 1944 until 1973.