Ducks on Distant Oaks
The colours of autumn have reached full seasonal radiance in Kensington Gardens. Serpentine Galleries to the north and south of The Long Water on the edge of the Gardens are enveloped by embraces of verdant vibrancy. To the vernissage of Peter Doig’s show House of Music at Serpentine South. Unlike its northern relative, the original building has no extensions. James Grey West’s 1934 neo Georgian red brick and stucco tea pavilion retains its original symmetrical elevations and plan.
Drawing colour indoors, Peter Doig is a meticulous colourist who uses disquieting combinations in his paintings. His use of colour is integral to the illusory quality of his work which blurs the line between figurative and abstract art. In place of photorealism portrayal is a hazy fractured vision. At times strong hues pull the viewer into the painting – a pink path here (Lion in the Road, 2015), an orange horizon there (Painting for a Poet, 2025).
Vernissage catering by Social Pantry in the Entrance Hall, café tables and chairs in the white walled West Gallery, and armchairs in the black walled East Gallery hark back to the building’s original use as a tea pavilion. The South Gallery opening off the Entrance Hall and the central clerestory lit North Gallery are hung but unfurnished. And everywhere, the sound of his record collection: 300 vinyls from Aretha Franklin to Winston Bailey play continuously on gigantic 1950s speakers.
The large Painting for Wall Painters (2010 to 2012) in the South Gallery faces the Entrance Hall. A montage of national flags includes a lion emblem representing Ethiopia. The Lion of Judah appears in the three equally large paintings in the North Gallery: Lions Ghost (2024), Rain the Port of Spain (2025) and Untitled (2025). Peter’s interest in painting lions was first stimulated by a childhood visit to the Port of Spain Zoo. Some of the lions, while majestic, are shown in a state of confinement: a metaphor for slavery and displacement in Trinidad. Born in Edinburgh, the artist lives between Trinidad and London.
One painting brings together music and art in oil on canvas. Giant speakers are piled high in front of palm trees in Maracas (2002 to 2008) in the West Gallery. In all his paintings, figurative details dissolve in heady washes and flows of painterly texture. Hazy strokes at the base of Maracas add a ghostliness to the otherwise hard lines. A small man stands on top of the middle speaker. What does it all mean? That’s the power of Peter Doig’s art: it’s as decipherable as a half forgotten technicoloured dream.
