LONDON — Since reopening in 2021 after a £57million renovationthe Courtauld has mounted an impressive selection of exhibitions, including thoughtful and leftist studies such as Van Gogh: Self-Portraits and, more recently, the amazing Fuseli and the modern woman. This lineup is clearly aimed at getting this underrated London gallery into the cultural spirit. With its new exhibition of recent paintings by the Scottish artist Pierre Doighe boldly beefs up the territory of the Tate Modern by promoting cutting-edge new works – so avant-garde as the paintings weren’t even finished one week before opening. The relevance of one of the most expensive living artists in the world to Courtauld’s famous Impressionist collection is established with very careful wording in the press release. Without claiming that the collection “influenced” Doig (which would require stylistic analysis), he states:
Doig has long admired the Courtauld Gallery’s collection. The Impressionist and Post-Impressionist artists who are at its heart were a touchstone for his own painting…. Visitors will be able to consider Doig’s contemporary works in light of paintings by earlier artists in The Courtauld’s collection that are important to him, such as those by Cézanne, Gauguin, Manet, Monet, Pissarro and Van Gogh. The exhibition will explore how Doig recasts and reinvents the traditions and practices of painting to create his own highly distinctive works.
Unfortunately for Doig, but good for the Courtauld, the paintings only underline the brilliance of the museum’s permanent collection. Where the Impressionists ingeniously sculpted with color to create luminous, shimmering scenes of mottled light and depth, Doig’s modern palette is muted, with muddy washes layering its surfaces. His linearity and solid colors compress his compositions decidedly, which is understandable given that he uses photographs, postcards and album covers as starting points. Rather, it has more in common with Francis Bacon’s style of painting: relatively flat surface patterns, sometimes bisected by grids, and impasto strokes cutting through muddy washes.
There is a distinct naivety to Doig’s linearity; his draughtsmanship falters in precision – for example, the floating musical instruments that defy natural physics in “Music Shop” (2019-23) or the shapeless bodies populating “Night Bathers” (2011-19) seem uninterested to reflect reality. This illustrates a fundamental difference in intent with the Impressionists: while the former depicted real scenes and objects compounded to an almost hyperreal point, Doig captures intangible, dreamlike landscapes and imaginations. In this sense, it is unfair to compare his work to the Courtauld collection. He said it himself prepares him for a beating. This is the case of his “Baigneuse” (2019-23), in which a boy stretching himself to the full height of a monumental canvas faces us. According to the caption, the image is from a photograph of actor Robert Mitchum posing on a beach in 1942. Fair enough: A quick Google search confirms that the pose and the swimsuit are nearly identical. He also specifies that “the subject remembers Bathers by Paul Cézanne.” While it shows a bather and its hue is vaguely pastel blue, the two are otherwise incomparable. The captioning is sneaky; it is not the “painting” that recalls Cézanne, but the “subject”—bathers in general.
The gallery setting also does Doig no favors. These enormous paintings are crammed into two small rooms adjoining the main galleries, with relatively low ceilings. This prevents visitors from stepping back to see them properly (or taking flat photos for this review). Since high-ceilinged rooms on the same floor have been used for exhibitions in recent memory, it is possible that a sponsorship stipulation (full exhibition title includes sponsor bank Morgan Stanley) relegated the work at Britain’s smallest billionaire Denise Coates Exhibition Galleries.
Doig’s prep time for the show is also worth considering. With the exception of one painting, “Canal”, dated 2023, work was completed in 2019-23 or 2015-23. If the Courtauld benefits from Doig’s move from his longtime Trinidad home to London in 2021, the dates suggest he could have trashed his studio and reworked some pieces specifically for the show.
It is not a question of proclaiming categorically: good historical art; bad contemporary art. Far from there. As the press release notes, “Doig recasts and reinvents the traditions and practices of painting to create his own highly distinctive works”, and he indeed occupies his important role in contemporary painting that is in his own right. Yet by insinuating that he was directly influenced by his collection, inviting visitors to “consider Doig’s contemporary works in light of paintings by earlier artists in The Courtauld’s collection that are important to him”, it engaged him in a program that promotes the museum. relevance to the detriment of the artist.
As far as ticket sales go, it seems to have worked out, as the show was packed when I visited, unlike the relatively small crowd at the exemplary Fuseli study. Perhaps it is due to the rarity of Doig’s incredibly expensive works on display in the UK (i.e. not hidden away in private collections or displayed briefly when sold at auction). From a purely business perspective, Courtauld’s common sense is admirable, but the pressure he exerts on Doig almost calls for sympathy as he contrasts him with exemplary Impressionist works – the main attraction of his collection – perceived by many as untouchables.
The Morgan Stanley Exhibition: Peter Doig continues at the Courtauld Gallery (Somerset House, The Strand, London, England) until May 29. The exhibition was curated by Dr. Barnaby Wright.
