Peter Doig
It's official: the lockdown continues, the lockdown is prolonged and winter gradually settles in. Our apartments become cosy and warm cocoons that we fill with novels, trinkets, flowers... In these places where we definitely spend more and more time, we hang paintings, photos and multiple art objects in the hope of surrounding ourselves with a little beauty. This weekend, to escape the greyness and routine, we leafed through the catalogue raisonné of the Scottish painter Peter Doig. His snowy landscapes, forests and starry nights made us travel... As you cannot travel around the world, we recommend that you open your eyes and enjoy this immobile journey that this master of landscape offers us.
100 Years Ago, Peter Doig, 2001
Following in the footsteps of Paul Gauguin, Peter Doig paints islands, crystalline water and the luxuriance of the tropical forests. It is the Caribbean Islands that inspire him, Trinidad in particular, an island of the West Indies where he went into exile. However, behind these pearly lagoons and magical landscapes, there is a mysterious dimension, a solitary and lost presence, symbolized by Man. In "100 years ago", a painting emblematic of Peter Doig's work, a Christic baba-cool drifts on the blue infinity aboard a gigantic canoe. This canoe, an allegorical and recurring theme in the artist's work, evokes Charon's boat sailing on the Styx, the river of memory.
Pelican (Stag), Peter Doig, 2003
"The British artist invites us to a nostalgic exploration of the troubled waters of our memory, and takes us back to the beginnings of modernity through her personal recollections," explains Angela Lampe, curator at the Musée National d'Art Moderne in Paris. Indeed, Doig often paints from photos, taken or found, he also likes to (re)integrate multiple references into his dreamlike landscapes. These references are the melancholic universe of Munch, the soft chromies used by Matisse, but also the record cover of the American rock band The Allman Brothers Band. His paintings give rise to reminiscences, sometimes melancholic memories, but in all cases, they do not leave one untouched and are an invitation to an inner journey.
left: Red Boat (Imaginary Boys), Peter Doig, 2004
right: Grand Riviere, Peter Doig, 2001