Lions (Ghost) is part of Peter Doig’s House of Music series, conceived for the artist’s significant 2025–26 exhibition at the Serpentine South Gallery in London.


In this work, a solitary lion is set in a vast, sun-bleached piazza, framed by crumbling classical columns, an architectural motif partially inspired by Collioure, the medieval fishing village on the French Mediterranean coast. The scene is executed with an almost Fauvist vibrancy, a manner that Doig handles with great dexterity. The title’s parenthetical (Ghost) alludes to a tension between presence and absence. Doig has acknowledged Caravaggio as a formative influence; notably, the work evokes the Baroque master’s mastery of chiaroscuro, as the lion appears to emerge from its architectural setting in a dramatic interplay of light and shadow.



The motif of the lion originates from Doig’s years residing in Trinidad, where the Lion of Judah frequently pervades the landscape of Port of Spain and is used by Rastafarians as a symbol of Emperor Haile Selassie I. In Rastafarian iconography, the lion signifies strength, African sovereignty, and resistance to oppression. For Doig, the image of the lion, recurring across time and places, underscores his interest in how symbols evolve through repetition and reinterpretation.