Peter Doig’s Cobourg 3 + 1 More (1994) comes up at Christie’s post war and contemporary art evening auction on March 7 in London. A visionary apparition rendered on a majestic scale, Cobourg 3 + 1 More conjures a distant, half-remembered reality beneath a shimmering membrane of scattered pigment. It is among the icons of Doig’s early oeuvre. Acquired in 1994 by German insurance company Provinzial Rheinland Cobourg 3 + 1 More comes to auction for the first time in its history. Estimated at £8-12 million it will be at Christie’s New York from February 24 to 26 February and at King Street in London from March 3. Provinzial Rheinland will use the proceeds of the sale to uphold a long-standing tradition of engagement with the arts and culture in the Rhine region and to continue to acquire works of young contemporary artists.
Francis Outred, Chairman and Head of Post War and Contemporary Art, EMERI said: “Back in 1994 when the tendency was for cool conceptual art, Provinzial Rheinland displayed a brave collecting vision by recognising that Peter Doig was developing a new approach to painting which gave new life and energy to the medium. Standing in front of this work one is taken to a different world and through the whiteout gradually we see a memory of his childhood home landscape and begin to pick out the silhouettes of Doig himself and his brother. Up close the thick texture of snow and staccato brushmarks create a tapestry of paint, the like of which nobody had seen before.”