Peter Doig is a British painter born in Edinburgh in 1959, best known for his uncanny figurative landscapes. His paintings draw on personal experience across the many countries he has lived in, from snowscapes and ski scenes rooted in childhood memories of Canada, to beach and jungle scenes from Trinidad, where he spent much of his adult life. His sources range widely, from photographs and
newspaper clippings to film stills and record covers, though his work makes no attempt at photorealism. Traces of human civilisation within natural settings are a recurring preoccupation, and his influences span Munch, Friedrich, Monet, and Klimt.
His awards include first prize at the John Moores Painting Prize in 1993, a Turner Prize nomination in 1994, the Whitechapel Gallery Art Icon award in 2017, and in 2025 the Praemium Imperiale in the category of painting, widely considered the most prestigious award in the arts. He was also a trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1995 to 2000. His major solo exhibitions have included shows at Tate Britain, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Scottish National Gallery, the Fondation Beyeler, the Courtauld Gallery, and the Musée d'Orsay. In 2007 his painting White Canoe sold at Sotheby's for $11.3 million, then the auction record for a living European artist.
Born in Edinburgh, Doig moved to Trinidad with his family in 1962, then to Canada in 1966. He studied at Wimbledon School of Art, Saint Martin's School of Art, and Chelsea School of Art, where he completed an MA. He returned to Trinidad in 2002 and also held a professorship at the Fine Arts Academy in Düsseldorf until 2017. He moved back to London in 2021. His work is held in collections including the Tate, MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the National Gallery of Canada, and the British Museum, among many others.
