Peter Doig is one of my favourite contemporary artists and so when I discovered they were showing his work at the Courtauld, one of my favourite galleries,  I scampered off to see it. I wasn't disappointed and let me tell you why as I suspect you will not be either.  Doig has reached the level of fame where his work is in the Tate, if you are into art you've probably heard of him, but he is yet to hit the Banksy level of fame.  But go check it out, I urge you. It is on until 29th May so you have time.  

The temporary exhibitions in the Courtauld are always quite small, in a couple of rooms at the top of the gallery.  I highly suggest you give yourself more time than you think as the top floor is incredible as in the permanent exhibition they have many, many excellent impressionist paintings (including the Van Gogh with the bandage over his ear).   More on that later.

Doig's work is probably most typified by it's sort of slightly magical realist quality.  Dreamy, lose textured backgrounds, lots of whites and very ethereal.  There is that here but the work on display at the Courtauld seems on the whole a lot more grounded and sometimes more aggressive.

Night bathers for example (the one above), definitely has the dreamy quality and the oddness.  The back stripe of sort of light blue is presumably meant to be the sea but that weird white splodge makes it sit up and look like a wall.  The central figure has a strange blue colour and sometimes appears to be floating but then the whole thing is grounded by the geometric building on the left. It is a calming piece and I like it.

What is not calming, indeed seems downright confrontational is Night Stall (above left).  It has the block of vivid red, at the bottom, the figure himself has quite an aggressive or positive posture.  It comes across aggressive because of that weird orange head which reminded me of the vampires from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Then you have the odd arc of foliage.  I was looking at it for quite some time before I saw another figure sketched out behind the first one.  And again like Night Bathers you have a geometric element on the left, what is presumably part of window.  This work seemed much more Francis Bacon like than Doig's other works.  It is good, and I like it and the same time don't like it.  It intrigues me but I can't warm to it.

Much more relatable/ approachable (something like that) is a self portrait (not pictured).  Done at night so like the figure in Night Bathing, Doig has painted himself in muted colours, dark blues and purples.  The painting is quite lose and patches of bare canvas can be seen.  The blocks of colour are never as simple as they seem with other colours blended andwoven into them.

Like for example in Painting of an Island (above right) which has more what I think of  as Classic Doig,  a dark mottled sky and sea,  glowing white landscape, figures and a dreamy quality.  For some reason I particularly like the swirling purpley hair.  But again we have a jarring element with the bright yellow flame at the bottom right.  It doesn't seem to provide warmth or light to the rest of the picture, it is there.  It focuses your eye and I think is a bit of a mis-step.  I think the picture would be better without it.

I had three favourite pieces in this show (and it's not a big show) and this was one of them.  It is the smallest piece on display and is called Music (2 Trees) (above). I love everything about this.  I love the colour scheme.  I love the strange ghostly trees,  I like the indistinct foliage.  I like the bold colours of the musician.  I like the grump looking horse who has an almost cartoonish feel,  and then the mysterious grey woman on it  (Doig's wife apparently).  I particularly like the hats.  Doig is good at hats and they often appear.  The main central figure is ghostly and weird but somehow to me, not sinister.  A sort of Puck like figure.  The paint is all quite thin and loosely applied and the whole thing has a movement to it.

Contrast this with the Alpinist (not pictured). The largest piece in the show and my least favourite. It is literally monumental, with a central harlequin clad ski figure. You can't see their face as it is obscured by googles and hat.  Their skis form a cross behind them, a crucifixion motif if ever I saw one. And towering in the background is the Matterhorn.  It is mainly blues and whites. It is a good picture don't get me wrong but it didn't seem to have quite the life and vibrancy of Doig's other work.  It seemed to me like he had thought about it too much. Too considered. Too still.

Alice (above) took Doig about 8 years so you might think that would be too considered as well but somehow for me it really works and is another favourite piece. It seems intimate as well as striking.  Perhaps not suprising when you realise the figure is his daughter. She is portrayed in his characteristically ghostly  style and there are patches of this in the setting (particularly the foreground greens).  Other than that though it is uncharacteristically poppy.  The bright orange tick of the hammock (that reminded me of his hats in other pictures but also the Nike swoosh), and the almost cartoony foliage.

Speaking of hats opposite this piece is another piece called Music Shop (not pictured).  It consists of a large man (with hat) and a guitar slung over his shoulder.  It looks more like he is carrying a weapon that an instrument.  The ghostly outline of a skeleton is painted on his trench coat (a detail I think is a step too far).  He is striding past a music shop but through the windows and the door you see the sea.  Again this mixture of the odd and the mundane.  Doig obviously likes painting musical instruments as they appear several times in this show.

They appear for example in another of my favourites the Music Boat (above) where they are probably the most colourful elements.  I find this piece very calming.  I really like the way Doig does his blues with this blurring of greens, turqoise and blue and the dashes of different whites. In the top left we have hovering this twisted bird figure.  The background islands almost dissapear.  It gives me a dreamlike feeling that I like. 

Finally (well not quite there is another painting but I didn't like it so not going to talk abot it) we have this picture of a Canal (above).  I had a sort of sinking feeling when I saw this.  I love canals, I love painting them, it is one of my favourite subjects.  A lot of my early work, before I left London is of the Regent's canal.  Last thing I need is to be competing with Doig.  Who knows though, maybe he will make the subject more popular.  

The red bridge forms a bold almost alienating strike.  The figure in the foreground is his son.  For me the elements I like most are the contrast between the dark green water,  the red bridge, and the deep blue of the rear most canal boat.  It caused me again to consider whether I should put figures in my paintings.  They do change the piece and I think I would have preferred this scene without any (although I think Doig nearly always has figures).

Apart from the paid show proper there are on the first floor a series of etchings.  Some of them like the one on the far left refer to the paintings above.  Others are something different.  They contrast between very sparse (like the ghostly cave on the left) to super detailed.

If all of this doesn't coax you then there is, as I said the famous impressionist paintings.  The Courtauld has also put in a modern British gallery and I was pleased to see David Bomberg (above right), Peter Lanyon and Patrick Heron (above left), all of whom I really like. 

Also go to the Watch House, its in the courtyard of Somerset House and the coffee is really good.

This week I talk to the excellent Paul Wicks