PETER DOIG — Renowned Landscape Painter

Peter Doig (Scottish, b. 1959) is one of the most celebrated contemporary painters of the late 20th and 21st centuries, internationally known for his atmospheric, dreamlike landscapes. Born in Edinburgh and raised between Trinidad, Canada, and the United Kingdom, Doig’s itinerant upbringing shaped the sense of memory, distance, and psychological depth that permeates his work. His paintings often present landscapes that feel both familiar and uncanny, rooted in real places yet transformed through painterly abstraction, nostalgia, and imagination.

Doig studied at Central Saint Martins and later Chelsea School of Art in London, where he developed the signature approach that now defines his oeuvre: combining romantic landscape traditions with a contemporary sensibility focused on texture, illusion, and the physicality of paint. Although he frequently refers to photographs, film stills, newspaper imagery, and his own snapshots, he uses these sources as catalysts rather than blueprints. Through layered surfaces, veils of color, and shifting perspectives, Doig creates works that operate in the realm of memory, evoking the emotional and psychological resonance of place rather than documenting reality.

His rise to international prominence accelerated in 1994 when he was nominated for the Turner Prize, establishing him as one of Britain’s leading contemporary painters. His works depict scenes ranging from snow-laden Canadian forests and urban architecture to solitary figures in canoes and lush Trinidadian landscapes. Since returning to Trinidad, one of the formative locations of his childhood, Doig has continued to explore themes of identity, belonging, and displacement, working from his studio there while also teaching painting at the Kunstakademie Düsseldorf.

Doig has exhibited at many of the world’s most significant institutions, including Tate Britain, the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich, the Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht, the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London, the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Fondation Beyeler in Basel, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk.

He also participated in the 56th Venice Biennale, where he opened the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa with a major presentation of his work. His paintings regularly achieve seven to eight-figure prices at auction, and his work resides in blue-chip public and private collections worldwide, including the Museum of Modern Art (New York), Tate Modern, the British Museum, SFMOMA, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art.

Widely considered among the top 25 contemporary figurative British painters, Doig remains a defining figure of New European Painting, celebrated for his ability to merge memory, magic, and landscape into a singular, haunting vision.

Explore Peter Doig at DTR Modern Galleries

DTR Modern Galleries proudly features works from Peter Doig’s sought-after editions and contemporary portfolio, offering collectors access to one of the most influential landscape painters of our time.