Peter Doig and Luc Tuymans Exhibitions in London Amid New York Gallery Openings

London's art scene in autumn 2012 featured simultaneous exhibitions by Peter Doig at Michael Werner London and Luc Tuymans at David Zwirner Gallery. Doig's show ran from September 27 to December 22 at 22 Upper Brook Street, while Tuymans' exhibition was on view from October 5 to November 17 at 24 Grafton Street. These openings coincided with the arrival of three New York galleries in Mayfair and Frieze Art Fair, creating what headlines called an American invasion. Doig's paintings, created after his move to Trinidad, displayed Caribbean colors but were criticized as passionless and thin compared to his earlier work. His 1990 painting White Canoe sold at auction in 2007 for $11.3 million. Tuymans' series Allo! examined colonialism through paintings based on stills from a 1942 Hollywood film adaptation of Somerset Maugham's 'The Moon and Sixpence,' which romanticized Gauguin's life. Tuymans photographed the film stills with his iPhone, capturing his own reflection. At his press preview, the Belgian painter made disparaging comments about British people. Both exhibitions highlighted the ascendancy of painting in London's expanding gallery landscape.