His rise to prominence began in 1988, when he took part in a group exhibition at the prestigious Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh, where his works sold on the very first day. From 1992 onwards he exhibited in major galleries across the world, capturing the interest of eminent collectors, among them the British Royal Family itself; in 2004, Queen Elizabeth II recognised him by admitting him to the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

"How do you stop?" dates from 1995 and was shown that same year in the artist’s solo exhibition at the Corrymella Scott Gallery in Newcastle upon Tyne. It is an exemplary canvas of Vettriano’s poetic: poised between popular culture and highly erudite references, Edward Hopper, certainly, but also the exponents of the existential Realism that flourished in Western Europe in the later twentieth century. The palpable failure of communication between the man, turned away and smoking, and the aloof woman refastening her garter, evidently after a clandestine encounter in what appears to be a motel room, recalls the masterworks of existentialist literature, evoking a kind of suspended time imbued with lyrical intensity.

There can be little doubt that Vettriano’s success, including his commercial appeal, signals how the return to figurative art may be seen as a way through the enduring crisis of the avant-gardes. In the subtle gestures of his figures, the painter inscribes his vision of human relations in an age marked by the denial of sentiment and, consequently, by a profound and visceral solitude.