George Thomson was born at Towie in Aberdeenshire, and entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1882. He joined the New English Art Club in 1891. He was a critic as well as a painter, writing about art for the and the . He lectured on perspective at the Slade and taught at Bedford College, London University from 1899 to 1914, when he moved to France permanently. He is known primarily as a painter of town scenes.