Peter Doig

Depicted as if viewed from the shore, sailing off the coast of a lush, tropical setting, House of Music (Soca Boat) is inspired by his surroundings when living and working on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. This work foregrounds one of Doig’s most prominent motifs, the boat, this time populating it with a host of musicians, marrying two of the artist’s favoured themes. The image is incredibly dynamic, with the boat’s white sail crumpled as if caught in a strong breeze, the frothy waves of the foreground denoting a moving surf, and the airborne bird poised as if about to make a sharp plunge into the water.   

Doig’s love of Soca music is conveyed in the relative clarity and detail of the instruments played by the band aboard the boat, all typical of this type of popular, upbeat Caribbean style. Music pervades Doig’s artistic practice, featuring as a motif in his works across media, and House of Music (Soca Boat) can be seen as being influenced by the dissemination and appreciation of music. 

As is the case with many of Doig’s works, it is not certain if the scene depicted did or could ever take place. The figures — while their instruments are defined and recognisable — are rendered so as to be otherwise anonymous, their line-drawn features imperceptible with distance. The background landscape is similarly imperceptible, its yellow tones bleeding into those of the sky and echoing the shapes of the sail as if one and the same, while the diffuse, watery use of colour over the green patch of coastline in the mid-ground hints at a place only partly remembered.   

A print made after the eponymous House of Music (Soca Boat) (2019-2023) painting, the work is an homage to Doig’s former Caribbean home, with the artist working from his memory of the place to produce this dreamlike image. Faithfully reproduced in high-resolution Giclée on cotton smooth rag for this HENI Edition, the print’s material and technique beautifully present the subtle shifts in density of colour and texture as manipulated by Doig in the painted version. 

House of Music (Soca Boat) 

New Release 2023

Depicted as if viewed from the shore, sailing off the coast of a lush, tropical setting, House of Music (Soca Boat) is inspired by his surroundings when living and working on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. This work foregrounds one of Doig’s most prominent motifs, the boat, this time populating it with a host of musicians, marrying two of the artist’s favoured themes. The image is incredibly dynamic, with the boat’s white sail crumpled as if caught in a strong breeze, the frothy waves of the foreground denoting a moving surf, and the airborne bird poised as if about to make a sharp plunge into the water.   