Peter Doig’s weather situations play a special role in Magic Realism. In the months during which the large formats take on form (and lose it once again) the weather often changes – sunshine can become fog, and vice versa.

In a painting that depicts a Toronto station and the surrounding landscape, the skyline is overlaid with yellow and brown patches, as if hidden behind a blizzard. The image, with its modernistic group of high-rises, is free of the disturbing influences of the weather even if the dirty, pale colours of the coming storm seem to already carry it in themselves. The grey is dealt with like the white; Peter Doig paints it as if it contained every possible colour.

Based on a postcard, the picture has autobiographical references. When Doig’s family moved from the province into Toronto proper in 1974, it was a very exciting experience for Doig since he had never lived in a large city before. However, it was not until 25 years later, in London, that he painted the urban landscape of Toronto – rails, houses, interstitial spaces – in a number of “shots”.

Wolfgang Kos, 2005 (translation: Tim Sharp)