Bill Birrell is a British artist.
He was born in Glasgow, United Kingdom, in 1945. He studied at Glasgow School of Art from 1964–66 and from 1968–70. He has lived and worked in Toronto, Canada and in Glasgow, U.K. While he was a student at Glasgow he started to develop his unique style. His older brother Ronald Birrell, who was also an artist, was a major influence on his life during this time. His first paintings were industrial landscapes and figure compositions. Birrell's work is difficult to categorize, not simply realistic, figurative, symbolist, surrealist, historical or combinations of these. It often contains figures in rooms or landscapes, usually female, creating a potent atmosphere of disquiet or sometimes harmony. It is the creation of this atmosphere that is important to him. While he was a student at the GSA he began to show paintings at the Royal Glasgow Institute. In 1970 he met Cyril Gerber, a Glasgow art dealer. Birrell would later exhibit his drawings, paintings, and constructions at Cyril Gerber's Compass Gallery in Glasgow. He has also shown his work at the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, at Le Mur Vivant gallery, and the Lamont Gallery in London, and at Corporart. He has also exhibited his work in Toronto, Bath, Geneva, and Copenhagen. James Morrison, with Scottish Television created a 1989 film about his work which stressed his uniqueness and separation from the Scottish art establishment. Birrell works mostly in oil paint and ink, and often works out his ideas on paper before transferring them to canvas or board. His main influences were his brother Ronald Birrell and early Renaissance painters such as Piero Della Francesca and Piero Di Cosimo.