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November 23, 2014 – März 22, 2015

The Fondation Beyeler will be holding an exhibition that presents the most important paintings of the British painter Peter Doig, who lives and works in Trinidad, London and New York. Doig, who was Born in Edinburgh in 1959 and grew up in Trinidad and Canada, is currently also Professor of Painting at the Kunstakademie in Düsseldorf.

Doig is a versatile artist who masters a wide range of techniques, drawn from both the present and the past. Generally representing people in nameless landscapes–in which motifs from Trinidad or Canada can frequently be recognised– his large-format paintings are often based on private pictorial material or found objects. Their colourfulness, luminosity and enigmatic atmosphere make them fascinating. Doig thereby continues the tradition of great masters such as Gauguin, Bonnard, and Matisse.

In the Romantic sense, Doig’s works convey a sense of yearning in which viewers can lose themselves. His representations of nature, which are often extremely mysterious, are as exotic as they are melancholy and as attractive as they are sinister.
In a method akin to sampling, Doig seeks out fragments from contemporary life and civilisation, and integrates them into his works. He takes photos, newspaper cuttings and pictures drawn from pop culture, like album covers and film posters, and uses them as the starting-point for his paintings. The subject matter and painting techniques of the works he creates therefore offer new visual possibilities while nonetheless subtly seeming familiar to viewers.

The exhibition will present many of Doig’s famous large-format works, which will be mirrored and complemented by an installation on the lower floor. Examples of Doig’s eye-catching and highly innovative graphic works, which show his rich inventiveness, will also be displayed downstairs. His graphic works, too, often provide the starting-point for his paintings.

As a fascinating highlight of the extended presentation, Peter Doig will create a large mural at the Fondation Beyeler (also on the lower floor).

Room Guide


Tour through the «Peter Doig» exhibition with curator Ulf Küster

Catalogue «Peter Doig»

Exotic atmospheres, somnambulistic narratives: familiar yet haunting images poised between figuration and abstraction.

The works of the British painter Peter Doig (* 1959 in Edinburgh), who divides his time between Trinidad, London, and New York, are densely atmospheric and sometimes uncanny. They are often based on found or private images, which the artist pieces together into dreamlike compositions full of melancholy and angst. Employing an unusual color palette and possessing an immense sensitivity for his medium, Doig creates superb images, following in the footsteps of great masters such as Paul Gauguin, Pierre Bonnard, and Henri Matisse. This publication presents him as an artist with a conceptual practice—as a visual thinker who is not only fascinated by the history of painting but also the painting process itself. The largeformat paintings and works on paper reproduced in the volume allow the viewer to share Doig’s creative passion and his enthusiasm for the power of paint.

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Biography

Peter Doig, *1959

1959 Born in Edinburgh

1960 Moves to Trinidad

1966 Moves to Canada

1979 Moves to London

1979–80 Studies at Wimbledon School of Art

1983 Receives BA from Saint Martin’s School of Art

1986 Moves to Montreal

1989 Moves to London

1990 Receives MA from Chelsea College of Art and Design

1993 Awarded John Moores Painting Prize, Liverpool

1994 Awarded Prix Eliette von Karajan, Nominated for Turner Prize

1995–2000 Trustee of Tate Gallery, London

2002 Moves to Trinidad

2005 Professor at Düsseldorf Art Academy

2008 Awarded Wolfgang Hahn Prize of the Society for Modern Art, Museum Ludwig, Cologne

Peter Doig lives and works in Trinidad, London and New York

The exhibition «Peter Doig» is being supported by:

Steven A. and Alexandra M. Cohen Foundation

 

Max Kohler Stiftung

 

Walter Haefner Stiftung

 

LUMA Foundation

 

Tarbaca Indigo Foundation

 

David Teiger

 

Noam Gottesmann