Robert Priseman was born in Derbyshire, United Kingdom. The son of a train driver, he showed an early interest in art and studied photography and graphic design before reading Aesthetics and Art Theory at the University of Essex. He began painting portraits in oils and went on to develop a successful career working to commission. Alongside portraiture, Priseman began painting people-less landscapes and in a decisive break, gave up commissioned work in 2003 to develop a more personal agenda. Increasingly drawn to interior spaces, in 2005 he began working with the Goldmark Gallery.