His drawings and paintings mainly depict Pendlebury, Greater Manchester (where he lived and worked for more than 40 years) as well as Salford and its vicinity.

He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as "matchstick men".

He painted mysterious unpopulated landscapes, brooding portraits and the unpublished "marionette" works, which were only found after his death.

[2] His use of stylised figures which cast no shadows, and lack of weather effects in many of his landscapes led critics to label him a naïve[3] "Sunday painter".

On 26 June 2013, a major retrospective opened at the Tate Britain in London, his first at the gallery; in 2014 his first solo exhibition outside the UK was held in Nanjing, China.

[9] His father Robert worked as a clerk for the Jacob Earnshaw and Son Property Company and was a withdrawn and introverted man.

Although his mother demonstrated no appreciation of her son's gifts as an artist, a number of books Lowry received as Christmas presents from his parents are inscribed to "Our dearest Laurie".

[11][12] Much of Lowry's early years were spent in the leafy Manchester suburb of Victoria Park, Rusholme, but in 1909, when he was 22, due to financial pressures, the family moved to 117 Station Road in the industrial town of Pendlebury.

The huge black framework of rows of yellow-lit windows standing up against the sad, damp charged afternoon sky.

I watched this scene — which I'd looked at many times without seeing — with rapture ..."[14] After leaving school, Lowry began a career working for the Pall Mall Company, later collecting rents, he would spend some time in his lunch hour at Buile Hill Park[16] and in the evenings took private art lessons in antique and freehand drawing.

[19] Lowry's oil paintings were originally impressionistic and dark in tone but D. B. Taylor of the Manchester Guardian took an interest in his work and encouraged him to move away from the sombre palette he was using.

[20] He developed a distinctive style of painting and is best known for his urban landscapes peopled with human figures, often referred to as "matchstick men".

Many paintings produced during this period were damning self-portraits (often referred to as the "Horrible Heads" series), which demonstrate the influence of expressionism and may have been inspired by an exhibition of Vincent van Gogh's work at Manchester Art Gallery in 1931.

[23]Although he considered the house ugly and uncomfortable, it was spacious enough both to set up his studio in the dining room and to accommodate the collection of china and clocks that he had inherited from his mother; he stayed there until his death almost 30 years later.

[24][25] In later years, Lowry spent holidays at the Seaburn Hotel in Sunderland, painting scenes of the beach and nearby ports and coal mines.

[19] When he had no sketchbook, Lowry drew scenes in pencil or charcoal on the back of envelopes, paper napkins and cloakroom tickets and presented them to young people sitting with their families.

[28] Lowry had many long-lasting friendships, including the Salford artist Harold Riley and painter Pat Gerrard Cooke (1935 – 2000).

He bought works from young artists he admired, such as James Lawrence Isherwood, whose Woman with Black Cat hung on his studio wall.

[31] Although seen as a mostly solitary and private person, Lowry enjoyed attending football matches and was an ardent supporter of Manchester City F.C.

The paintings depict the mysterious "Ann" figure, who appears in portraits and sketches produced throughout his lifetime, enduring sexually charged and humiliating tortures.

Manchester author Howard Jacobson has argued that the images are just part of Lowry's melancholy and tortured view of the world and that they would change the public perception of the complexity of his work if they were more widely seen.

He left an estate valued at £298,459, and a considerable number of artworks by himself and others to Carol Ann Lowry, who, in 2001, obtained trademark protection of the artist's signature.

A Simple Man was choreographed and directed by Lynne, with music by Carl Davis and starred Christopher Gable and Moira Shearer (in her last dance role).

In 1964, the art world celebrated his 77th birthday with an exhibition of his work and that of 25 contemporary artists who had submitted tributes at Monk's Hall Museum, Eccles.

The Hallé orchestra performed a concert in his honour and Prime Minister Harold Wilson used Lowry's painting The Pond as his official Christmas card.

[citation needed] In July 2015 three works – Lady with Dogs, Darby and Joan and Crowd Scene – featured in the BBC One series Fake or Fortune?.

The presenters concluded that the works were genuine, despite their weak provenance and the fact that Lowry was "probably the most faked British artist, his deceptively simple style of painting making him a soft target for forgers".

[103] The Mill, Pendlebury, a painting never publicly exhibited or featured in any book, was found in the estate of Leonard D. Hamilton, a British-American researcher, after his death in 2019.

Thompson Collection, were auctioned at Sotheby's in London; the total sale estimate of £15 million was achieved, even though two paintings failed to reach their reserve price and were withdrawn.