Boat Cave (Saut d'Eau) etching by Peter Doig

National Galleries Scotland: Modern (Modern One & Modern Two)Dean Village / Belford

Peter Doig: Morning, Paramin

Now showingUntil 3 January 2027Free

Twenty-eight etchings by Peter Doig made in response to Derek Walcott's poems, a memorial to the friendship between painter and poet. Free display at Modern One.

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On now All of November 2026

Derek Walcott stands at his easel, half present and half dissolving into veils of aquatint. Peter Doig based the etching on his painting of the poet, made for a 2016 reading in Trinidad that Walcott was too ill to attend. Walcott died the next year, and this room is Doig's memorial to the friendship.

Walcott wrote the Morning, Paramin poems in response to Doig's paintings. These 28 etchings, made between 2017 and 2025, answer the poems by reworking those paintings. You walk into one room where Carnival lions and a man dressed as a bat share the walls with skiers standing in the dark under a lone tree, the snow put down in grainy spitbite.

It suits anyone who knows the paintings and wants to see Doig rethink them in print. The catch: there is no paint here, only etching. Entry is free, in Modern One, daily 10am to 5pm until 3 January 2027, with large-print labels.

Editor's pick

Twenty-eight etchings Peter Doig made in response to Derek Walcott's poems, a memorial to the friendship between painter and poet. A free display at Modern One.

Look for

Painter / Poet
Look for Walcott at his easel, emerging through layers of aquatint and sugar lift, with scraped highlights catching on the paper.
Ski Jacket (night)
Figures in winter gear stand in darkness under a solitary tree, their bright haloes pushing against the black and the snow laid down in granular spitbite.