In connection with Peter Doig’s painting the word “multi-layered” is to be taken literally. The postcards, newspaper pictures or film scenes that he uses as models become the entrance to another state of reality.  In a process of continuous re-working, Doig’s large format paintings move away from their starting point; figures and objects surface and disappear. An intensive palette of colours, which often approaches the hallucinatory, emphasises the anti-naturalistic and the mysterious; the illusionistic effects of Impressionism are reactivated. The affinity of Doig’s pictures with the hyper-reality and suggestiveness of filmic images has often been pointed out.

On the long road to the final picture there are intermediary stages and intermediary pictures. The three “fast”, small format works in the evn collection are sketch-like close-ups taken from the context of huge pictures. Orange Sunshine was painted in connection with winter sport pictures. Doig, who grew up in Canada and was himself an enthusiastic free-styler, has repeatedly made the snowboarder subculture into an art theme. However schematically the group picture appears to be, the composition is finely balanced; the glowing colours bear witness to a cool vitality.

Wolfgang Kos, 2005 (translation: Tim Sharp)