Born in Grangemouth, Scotland in 1920.

Studied at the Edinburgh College of Art from 1937-40 and then served in the Royal Artillery until 1946. After the war he travelled throughout Europe and exhibited in Italy where he attracted the attention of Peggy Guggenheim.

He exhibited at Gimpel Fils for the first time in 1950 and they remain his gallerist to this day. In 1956 Davie had his first solo show in the US at the Catherine Viviano Gallery, New York and met several Abstract Expressionists including Jackson Pollock. Many international exhibitions and prizes followed as well as being awarded a C.B.E in 1972.

There are today hundreds of Davie's works in public collections such as the Tate, Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, MOMA, New York, The British Council, Arts Councils of London, Dublin and Scotland, Walker Art Gallery, Glasgow Hunterian Art Gallery, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation, Whitworth Art Gallery, Venice Peggy Guggenheim Foundation, Auckland City Art Gallery and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam to name just a few.