He constructs this work as a confrontation of worlds dominated by the central oval of a snowstorm that pushes back to the edges of his memory the cabin and the forest. The flakes are scattered on this veil altogether dark and slightly transparent. Blur enhances the dreamlike impression.
A school security agent named Charley watches and says "Huh, Space". He was seeing a starry sky and not a snowstorm. Far from discouraging the young artist, this erroneous but plausible interpretation excites his enthusiasm. The pictorial art does not reflect a reality but an emotion prepared by the artist and which can be perceived differently by the observer.
Completed in 1991 this 183 x 127 cm oil on canvas is titled Charley's Space. In 2003-2004 it will be used as the title of a solo exhibition in Maastricht : Peter Doig has not forgotten the involuntarily deep lesson received from his visitor. It is estimated £ 6M for sale by Christie's in London on March 6, lot 27.
Monet knew how to show the transparent surface of his pond. Doig becomes the virtuoso of the falling snow, more or less dense, within more or less fog, but from then in a more homogeneous universe. Painted also in 1991 and reusing the same cabin and forest, Pink Snow 244 x 198 cm is conserved at the MoMA.
Painted in 1994, a scene in Cobourg is a culmination of this effect of blizzard ambience. This 200 x 250 cm oil on canvas was sold for £ 12.7M including premium by Christie's on March 7, 2017.
Charley's Space is introduced with another snow scene in the video shared by Christie's.
SOLD for £ 11M including premium
Those Other Doigs in London https://t.co/a4UByIFOat pic.twitter.com/O7AvUqzF4F
— Art Market Monitor (@artmarket) February 27, 2018