Peter Doig (b. 1959) is one of the most renowned contemporary figurative painters.Â
Having grown up across Europe, North America, and the Caribbean, romantic landscapes are central to Doig’s work. Blending diverse references with personal memories, his paintings explore memory, atmosphere and déjà -vu. Both ambiguous and specific in mood, Fisherman reflects this mix of the personal and universal, capturing the evolving ideas that shape Doig's practice.
This work is a key example of Doig's dreamlike and expressionist approach to image-making. Fisherman documents a scene observed by Doig while attending a Trinidadian artist residency. While on a beach with fellow artist Chris Ofili, the pair noticed a man bobbing in the water with a pelican. Initially, they believed the man to be rescuing the bird, but eventually realized he was drowning it, and glaring at the artists as if to say: "You shouldn't be watching this. Don't take notice." The fisherman's gaze haunted Doig for years.
Combining representational painting with expressive abstraction, Fisherman evokes the lush tropics of Trinidad and captures the charged moment between fisherman and viewer as he drags the bird along the shore. His choice of title is not entirely referential, enhancing the ambiguity of his memory and leaving room for interpretation.
Once preoccupied with an image, Doig revisits the scene multiple times in various mediums, working through his memories and questions around the scene. He would go on to create this particular tableau at least six times in the Pelican series, in paint, charcoal, aquatint, watercolor, and gouache.Â
In 2007, Doig became a household name when his painting “White Canoe” sold for $11.3 million at auction, setting the record at the time for the highest auction price by a living artist. By the age of 50, he had major retrospectives at the Tate Britain, the Paris Museum of Modern Art, and the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.
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"Fisherman"
2014
Archival pigment print in colors, on Somerset paper, the full sheet
Signed, dated, and numbered by the artist in silver ink along bottom edge
From an edition of 500
34.4"H 27.2"W (artwork)
44"H 36.5"W (framed)
Very good condition
Literature:Â Ars Publicata, Peter Doig Editions, 2014.03
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