Peter Doig (born 1959)ALPINIST2019–22 Pigment on linenPrivate CollectionPeter Doig has a close connection to snow- coveredmountain landscapes. He grew up in Canada and is alifelong skier. Doig based this painting on an oldpostcard, scaling it up and changing it considerablyto create this monumental work. Doig clad the skier inthe costume of a harlequin, a figure long associatedwith artists as being a creative outsider and used as asubject by Paul Cézanne and Pablo Picasso, amongothers. The crossed skis introduce a religiousconnotation suggestive of pilgrimage or mountaincrosses. The painting was begun in Trinidad. It wasworked on during the several months Doig spent inthe Swiss Alpine town of Zermatt, where heintroduced the towering presence of the Matterhorn inthe background, before being finally completed inLondon.
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