‘Landmark acquisition’ for nation of Edinburgh-born artist’s work in first for National Galleries of Scotland

Announcing the acquisition, the galleries also made a commitment that one edition of all future prints made by the artist will also join the national collection.

This is the first time that NGS has secured not only an artist’s entire print collection to date, but all prints to be created in the future.

Born in Edinburgh in 1959, Peter Doig moved to Canada as a child, and lived and worked in Trinidadfrom 2002. In 2021, he relocated his main studio to London, which is now his principal residence. His breakthrough as a painter was in 1990, while the artist was studying towards a master’s degree at Chelsea School of Art.

A contemporary painter known for his dreamlike landscapes that blur observation and memory, Doig is regarded for the way he references personal experiences, popular culture, and art history alike. His inventive style, sensuous colour palette and suggestive imagery are considered to set him apart from his peers.

Simon Groom, director of international and national partnerships at NGS, said: “Peter Doig is one of the most consistently inventive artists working anywhere in the world today. The works reveal a transforming vision of the world, steeped in a sense of beauty and mystery, rich in their imaginative suggestion yet remaining grounded in the real. This remains as true of his prints, which have been an essential element of his practice from the very beginning of his career.

“We are indebted to Peter and the Contemporary Art Society for their generosity and great vision, in enabling NGS to represent Scotland’s greatest contemporary artist across his whole career, and to create an internationally unique resource that will be accessible for exhibition, loan and study now and for future generations.”

A major retrospective of Doig’s work was held at National Galleries Scotland: National in 2013. The exhibition surveyed Doig’s paintings and works on paper following the artist’s move to Trinidad.

At the time, Doig said: ‘I left Scotland as a child as many of my generation did; however I know Edinburgh, the city where I was born, through many visits as a child and youth. To be able to exhibit my paintings in the magnificent rooms of the National Galleries is a great great honour.”

Caroline Douglas, director of the Contemporary Art Society, said: “It is absolutely wonderful to see the first group of prints from this remarkable, groundbreaking gift of work go on display in Edinburgh. Peter Doig is one of the most important artists working anywhere in the world today and print making lies at the core of his practice.

“We are delighted that the Gallery of Modern Art in Edinburgh will be the home to this remarkable body of work, which will be a resource for artists, scholars and art lovers forever more.”

NGS said it had been working in partnership with the Contemporary Art Society to enable the gift from Doig. The ambition of the Great Works scheme is to ensure that major artworks, which might otherwise be inaccessible to gallery audiences, are able to enter public collections during the lifetime of the artist.

To mark the acquisition, a selection of prints will go on display for free at National Galleries Scotland: Modern One in Edinburgh from Saturday. Visitors will be able to explore works relating to Morning, Paramin a 2016 book made in collaboration between Doig and the St Lucian poet Derek Walcott.