Philip Surrey began his art training in Winnipeg at age sixteen, when he took an apprenticeship at Brigdens commercial art firm. There, he met Fritz Brandtner. In the evenings, he took classes at the Winnipeg School of Art under LeMoine FitzGerald and George Overton. It was at this time that he started painting the streets and people of Winnipeg after dark, by the light of streetlamps and restaurants. He moved to Vancouver in 1929 and took a job as a commercial artist at Cleland-Kent Engraving. In night classes at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Arts, he studied with Frederick Varley and Jock Macdonald. Surrey left Vancouver in 1936 and spent three months at New York’s Art Students League, studying under Frank Vincent Dumond. The following year, he settled in Montreal and found work at the Standard newspaper. He continued to paint in evenings and on weekends and became immersed in the art scene, rekindling his friendship with Brandtner and befriending John Lyman, Goodridge Roberts, Jori Smith and Jean Palardy.

Surrey built a successful 25-year career at the Standard and its successor, Weekend Magazine. Then, in 1964, publisher John McConnell offered Surrey the opportunity to paint full-time under salary. Surrey accepted, and continued to work as a salaried artist for twelve years, mounting numerous solo shows and signing an exclusive contract with Galerie Gilles Corbeil.

Surrey’s earliest work shows the influence of Varley, with its lyrical, sensuous form and colour, as seen in Going to Work (1935). Later in the 1930s, his approach showed a greater concern with society and human realities, especially the effects of the Depression. This is evident in The Red Portrait (1939), with its image of a solitary sitter and tense mood. The Young Ladies of the Village (after Courbet) (1966) reveals Surrey’s lifelong interest in classical painting.

Philip Surrey was awarded the Centennial Medal (1967). He held an honorary doctorate form Concordia University (1981), and was a member of the Order of Canada (1982).