Peter Doig's art from the 1980s reflects a period of exploration and development that laid the groundwork for his later critical and commercial success. During this decade, Doig was immersing himself in the London art scene and experimenting with various sources and painterly traditions. His early works, created after settling in London, were characterized by a diverse range of influences, from the Hairy Who and Chicago Imagists to artists such as Miro, Chagall, and A.R. Penck. This period saw Doig experimenting with techniques and drawing from pop art and popular culture, integrating cinematic imagery and the concept of the recurring motif, which would become essential elements in his practice​ (MichaelWernerGallery)​. A show at Michael Werner Gallery in London in 2014 shed light on Doig's early works, revealing paintings that were significantly more urban and influenced by metropolitan life than the landscape-based images for which he would later become known. These works, described as expressive and dramatically colored, were influenced by Doig's experiences in the London club scene and the architecture of New York, reflecting the metropolitan inspirations that formed the young artist​ (Christie's)​. During his time at the Chelsea School of Art, Doig produced "quite homely paintings" of modest subjects, a direction that diverged from the prevailing art trends of minimalism, Neo-Geo, and conceptualism in London. Ignoring the zeitgeist of the early '90s, Doig focused on developing a unique artistic language that celebrated painting in an era when many declared it dead. His engagement with painting's evocative potential and narrative capabilities, combined with his use of photographic and cinematic sources, contributed to a resurgence of interest in the medium and established Doig as a key figure in contemporary painting​ (Christie's)​. Doig's work from the 1980s and early '90s, therefore, represents a critical phase of experimentation and discovery. It was a time when he was developing the thematic and stylistic concerns that would define his mature work: a fascination with the landscape, an exploration of memory and perception, and an innovative approach to color and form that bridges abstraction and figuration. These early efforts demonstrate Doig's deep engagement with the process and history of painting, marking him as a sophisticated visual thinker who was already pushing the boundaries of the medium​ (MichaelWernerGallery)​.