Peter Doig Exhibition in Frankfurt

Art Museum Schirn Kunsthalle Shows Influential Paintings in Germany

Oct 11, 2008

Doig's work oscillates between abstract and figurative. A comprehensive retrospective shows 50 of his atmospheric paintings in Frankfurt from October 9 to January 4.

The Schirn Kunsthalle assembled 50 paintings and drawings by Peter Doig in cooperation with the Tate in London and the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, where the exhibition was shown earlier this year. Additionally, 130 painted film posters are on display that were used to announce movies selected and screened by Doig in his StudioFilmClub in Trinidad.

While his style might refer to art history at times and remind of Klimt or Monet, for example, his subjects are at the same time deeply rooted in the presence and in popular culture. This ambivalence is paralleled by the dichotomy of abstraction and the figurativeness, that contributes greatly to his popularity. Collectors seem to be anything but ambivalent, as Doig is one of the most expensive living European artists.

Movies, Postcards, Newspapers – What Inspires Doig

Peter Doig's paintings immediately demand the viewer's attention, as something eerie seems to lurk in these landscapes and scenes. While drawing inspiration both from his childhood years in Canada, with its vast plains and skies, and the colourful Caribbean island of Trinidad, his landscapes are never portraying reality, but describe landscapes of the mind.

Even if seemingly frozen in time and calm on the surface, the setting often radiates a sense of apprehension: Could this be the scene of a crime - or is it just anxious imagination? Movies serve as one of Doig's sources of inspiration – cult horror movie Friday the 13th or TV-classic Twin Peaks, for example.

Mysterious and uncanny solitary figures feature in many paintings without dominating them; but like a magnet they draw the observer in. Other paintings are strikingly devoid of persons and create a mystery about abandoned, decaying buildings.

But it's not all doom and gloom; despite their elusiveness most of Doig's paintings create an enveloping world that touches many people's nerves and emotions. They alternate between forlorn and cheerful, bleak and beautiful. And since Doig moved back to Trinidad in 2002, Canadian winters with snow and bleak plains made way for colourful tropical settings.

StudioFilmClub on Trinidad – and in Frankfurt

Apart from opening the Caribbean Arts Center, Doig started pursuing his interest in film, when he came to live on Trinidad. Every thursday his StudioFilmClub shows a movie that Doig chooses; he wants to give the locals a chance to get to know other types of films than just the mainstream Hollywood films that cinemas show. Consequently he paints a poster to announce the movie of his choice and admission is free.

This retrospective shows 130 of Doig's movie posters til December 18 and also installs a museum variation of his tropical arthouse cinema between October 15 and November 26. Rarely shown films like The Night of the Hunter (1955) by Charles Laughton or THX 1138 (1969) by George Lucas are screened in a specially designed location with a bar.

From Edinburg to Trinidad – Biography of Peter Doig

Born 1959 in Scotland, Doig grew up in Canada and Trinidad. In 1979 he came to London to study art at the Wimbledon School of Art, St Martin's School of Art and Chelsea School of Art, which he finished with an MA. After gaining first recognition in the arts world in the early nineties, his nomination for the Turner Prize in 1994 brought fame. Today he is one of the most expensive living artists in Europe, as Max Hollein, director of the Kunsthalle Schirn, points out.

Doig, who claims to have little interest in the hustle and bustle of the art world, moved to Trinidad in 2002, where he still lives with his family. He visits Europe regularly to teach art at the fine arts academy in Düsseldorf in Germany.

The copyright of the article Peter Doig Exhibition in Frankfurt in Traveling Art Exhibits is owned by Renate Oetjens. Permission to republish Peter Doig Exhibition in Frankfurt in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.