Born in Invershin and educated at Golspie High School, George Macpherson RSA attended Edinburgh College of Art, graduating in 1958 and winning the RSA Stuart Prize the same year. He travelled to Spain for the Andrew Grant Travelling Scholarship in 1959, and in 1960 he returned to Edinburgh to take up the position of Lecturer in Drawing and Painting at Edinburgh College of Art, a position he held until his retirement in 1990. Latterly he lived and worked in East Lothian.
Macpherson's painting took great inspiration from his childhood in the Highlands, living close by the River Shin. He also sought influence from a continued involvement with nature and from his love of music. Macpherson was an esteemed accordionist, and his abstract work gave a visual representation of the interplay of Gaelic song and traditional Scottish music.
He was also greatly influenced by the American Abstract Expressionists, with a particular affinity to the work of Arshile Gorky whose work included a similar abstraction based upon natural forms. He quoted Gorky, noting of the importance tradition plays to an artist in solving new problems. In 2012 Macpherson stated: 'For me painting is a matter of hand and touch, hand and vision, hand and shape, hand and impact'.
Macpherson exhibited extensively, most notably with the 57 Gallery in 1966 and 1968, with the Alan Alexander Gallery in 1975, the Scottish Gallery (1981), the Torrance Gallery (1986), the Stichill Smithy Gallery (1990) and the Scottish Arts Club in 2001. Important group exhibitions including the Contemporary Art from Scotland, Scottish Arts Council touring exhibition (1981/82); Celtic Connections, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (1995); Gathering - Scottish Printmaking, Galerie Beeldspraak (1995); An Leabhar Mor, touring worldwide (2002 - 2010); Highland - Works from the Royal Scottish Academy, An Lanntair (2008); and Confluence (with Alfons Bytautas RSA, Norman McBeath RSA and Bills Scott PPRSA), Gracefield Arts Centre (2008). His work is held in public and private collections across the UK and internationally, including the Scottish Arts Council, Edinburgh City Chambers, the Edinburgh Schools Collection, Argyll and Bute District Council, the Jean Watson Trust and the Wilton Lodge Gallery.
George Macpherson was elected to the Society of Scottish Artists in 1966 and as Associate of the Royal Scottish Academy in 1987, being made a full Academician in 2005.