Peter Doig

"I think the way that the paintings come out is more a way of trying to depict an image that is not about a reality, but one that is somehow in between the actuality of a scene and something that is in your head."

- 2003

Peter Doig's large oil-on-canvas paintings are inspired by both modernism and popular culture. He draws on a variety of sources and styles: Canadian landscape, pop art, photography, film, and personal archives. Today, he continues to explore how human beings fit into nature.

Raised in Canada, Doig moved to London in 1979. After studying at the Wimbledon and St. Martin's schools of art, he briefly moved back to Canada. Upon his return to London, he earned a master's degree at the Chelsea School of Art in 1989. His first major exhibition in Canada took place in 2001. A year later, he was artist in residence in Trinidad, where he established a studio. He now lives there with his family.

Doig's childhood was eventful and the memories of his trips to Canada and Trinidad are always present in his work. He first painted in an impetuous figurative style and used vibrant colours. In the late 1980s, he adopted an unaffected style. Starting with reworked images, he transformed landscape painting. His works, organic and often spontaneous, such as Grand Riviere (2001-02), immerse viewers in a world that is somewhere between reality and imagination.

Peter Doig received the Whitechapel Artist Award, Whitechapel Art Gallery, London, and the Barclays Young Artist Award, Serpentine Gallery, London, in 1991. He was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1994 and was a member of the board of directors of the Tate Gallery, London, from 1995 to 2000.