Bird in Cage by David Michie (1928-2015) depicts a pigeon-like bird in a grey and tan scene, with a rectangular outline cutting through the centre of the work, and a solid grey, wood-like panel at the top of the work. Michie's paint strokes are visibile in the bird's grey colour as he layered the paint to build up its rounded appearance. The rich, vibrant orange-yellow colour is suggestive of a sky in the background, possibly contrasting the bird's current predicament with the freedom it could have. 

Much of Michie's work focuses on vibrant use of colour, represented here with the vibrancy in the orange-yellow tones throughout the work. Michie produced a few works focused on birds and their different habitats, often painting them from his travels abroad as well. 

David Michie OBE RSA, 1928-2015

The youngest of the three sons of Anne Redpath, David Michie was born in St Raphael in the South of France. He returned to Scotland with his mother and brothers in 1934 and was brought up in Hawick, Roxburghshire. His studies at Edinburgh College of Art from 1946 to 1953 were interrupted by two years' National Service in the Royal Artillery. The award of the college's Senior Travelling Scholarship allowed him to paint in Italy in 1953 for a year. Michie taught drawing and painting at Gray's School of Art in Aberdeen from 1958 to 1962, when he joined the teaching staff of Edinburgh College of Art. He was Vice-Principal from 1974 to 1977, and Head of the School of Drawing and Painting from 1982 until his retirement in 1990. He held a Personal Chair at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh from 1988 until 1991, when he was created Professor Emeritus. He was then Visiting Professor to the Art Studio Department of the University of California in Santa Barbara.