Peter Doig's snow scenes offer a profound exploration of memory, landscape, and the interplay between reality and imagination, revealing the depth and versatility of his painting practice. Doig, who spent his childhood in Scotland, Trinidad, and Canada, often draws upon the memories of his Canadian upbringing to create evocative snow-filled landscapes that capture the distortions of memory through the use of snow and icy reflections. His early landscapes, such as "Blotter" (1993) and "Cobourg 3 + 1 More" (1994), utilize snow to create hermetic worlds that hover between abstraction and figuration, demonstrating Doig's virtuosity in blending atmosphere and subject matter (Christie's) (Christie's).
The motif of the canoe, inspired by the film "Friday the 13th" (1980), became a recurring theme in Doig's work, with paintings like "Swamped" (1990) and "White Canoe" (1990–91) revisiting this motif like recurring dreams. These works, alongside his cabin paintings, evoke Canadian-style dwellings and landscapes, showcasing Doig's unique ability to combine elements of Monet, Munch, Cezanne, Mondrian, Van Gogh, Bonnard, Newman, and Richter into a distinctive visual language (Christie's).
Doig's process is deeply autobiographical, blending experienced places from his itinerant upbringing with references to art history and a sense of fantasy and magical realism. This approach results in snowy landscapes that are richly detailed and infused with mystery and intrigue. In explaining his attraction to snow scenes, Doig has stated that snow "has this effect of drawing you inwards," a testament to his interest in creating paintings that not only depict a scene but also evoke an introspective experience for the viewer (Acquavella Galleries).
Through his masterful manipulation of color, texture, and form, Doig creates snow scenes that transcend their subjects, inviting viewers into a contemplative space that navigates the boundaries between the tangible and the ethereal, the personal and the universal. His work, characterized by a blend of memory, photographic images, and architectural motifs, offers a unique perspective on landscape painting, establishing him as one of the most significant figurative painters of his generation (Christie's) (Acquavella Galleries) (Christie's).