Peter Greenaway

Peter Greenaway
Greenaway in 2007
Born (1942-04-05) 5 April 1942
Newport, Wales
OccupationsFilm director, screenwriter, visual artist
Years active1962–present
Notable workThe Draughtsman's Contract (1982)
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989)

Peter Greenaway, CBE (born 5 April 1942) is a British filmmaker and visual artist.

Greenaway's notable feature films include The Draughtsman's Contract (1982), The Belly of an Architect (1987), The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover (1989), Prospero's Books (1991), and Nightwatching (2007). He has also created works in other mediums, notably the multimedia Tulse Luper Suitcases, documentaries, and several video installations. In 2014, he received the BAFTA Outstanding British Contribution to Cinema Award.

Greenaway's films are noted for the distinct influence of Renaissance and Baroque painting, and Mannerist painting in particular. Common traits in his films are the scenic composition and illumination and the contrasts of costume and nudity, nature and architecture, furniture and people, sexual pleasure and painful death. The BFI's Screenonline describes him as "a philosopher of cinema," and "an artist who is a believer in the subversive power of the image."