‘Sit, linger, take a nap’: Peter Doig welcomes visitors to his Serpentine exhibition

Peter Doig is one of the best-known contemporary artists of our times. His paintings may be beloved, fetching stratospheric prices, but Doig has consistently risen above art-world elitism. Now, his ‘House of Music’ exhibition at Serpentine Galleries strikes a blow for cultural democracy by giving the art-loving public a chance to experience his paintings as if they were at home.

The artist has brought a unique and very rare sound system into the gallery, installed acoustic curtains, and set up lounge spaces. People can sit in the space for long periods of time, and enjoy the work with a bespoke soundtrack of 300 vinyl records that are played continuously throughout the day.

‘These speakers and the paintings are both in private hands, and we thought that it would be really good for more people to experience them, and to play their music via the systems,’ says Doig. ‘It’s the same ways that the paintings often end up in private hands, and the people who get to see them are very few. So, it's making all aspects public.’

Doig, who was born in Scotland, has lived and worked around the world and was based in Trinidad from 2002-21, before returning to London. At the Serpentine, he presents a combination of works made in Trinidad and elsewhere. The sense of the Caribbean island’s tranquillity is palpable in much of the work, with Doig’s lion motif patrolling many of the larger paintings. A reference to the Rastafarian Lion of Judah, he stands facing us, lounging in the tropical sun or playing in a deserted urban landscape. You can expect the otherworldly in Doig’s work, an elevated, dreamlike interpretation of the everyday.

In the circular central room of Serpentine South, daylight pouring through the glass roof, three such works sit opposite a 1930-40s Western Electric and Bell Labs sound system. The sculptural set-up means that music is played through two beautiful wooden 1950s Klangfilm Euronor speakers in adjacent rooms, one darkened and peppered with easy chairs, the other light and featuring a café-table set.

‘No one has ever seen this space – it would usually have only been the technician,’ said Laurence Passera of DSP London, custodian of the Bell Labs speaker system. ‘I love the fact that it's being celebrated like this.’

Some of the smaller works in the show deeply evoke Caribbean culture. There is Embah in Paris (2017), a portrait of the late poet and artist Emheyo Bahabba, who shared Doig’s studio for 15 years; another portrait, of Winston ‘Shadow’ Bailey, who often features in Doig’s work; and the song ‘Dat Soca Boat’, which inspired the exhibition’s title. Two paintings of sound systems, towering against lush greenery, flank the entrance to the space, with visitors greeted by a huge work of international flags, tapping into a transnational sense of being.

The welcoming ethos of the exhibition, staged in the free-of-charge Serpentine (an aspect dear to artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist’s heart, as he recently told us), is being extended into ‘Sound Service’, a weekly Sunday and occasional evening listening session where Doig’s friends will present their own record collections and soundscapes for visitors. Taking part will be Linton Kwesi Johnson, Café OTO, Sean O’Hagan, Ed Ruscha, Nihal Al Assar, Radio Alhara and Andrew Cranston with John MacLean (details at the Serpentine website).

‘The idea of having furniture and chairs here is that some people feel like they can linger, they may even want to have a nap,’ Doig adds. ‘We just wanted to make it a warmer environment for all the senses, not just the eyes, but also the ears and the body.'

This exhibition feels like a gift to the city and its visitors. It has it all – fantastic art, beautiful music and a genuine welcome to all.

‘Peter Doig: House of Music’, Serpentine South, 10 October 2025 – 8 February 2026, serpentinegalleries.org