Peter Doig’s depiction of rainbow tunnel set to fetch millions at auction

Art truly is in the eye of the beholder.

For the thousands of commuters who take Toronto's Don Valley Parkway home from work every day, the fabled "rainbow tunnel" is merely a short-term visual distraction from the miles of bumper-t0-bumper traffic ahead.

But for one lucky buyer, that view could cost over $15 million.

On June 30, Scottish-born artist Peter Doig's painting Country-rock (wing-mirror) goes up for auction. It depicts the rainbow tunnel from the passenger seat of a car, and was named after the music Doig was listening to as he rode past the landmark.

Sotheby's estimates the work is valued at £9 million, or $16.5 million CDN.

"The rainbow tunnel is one of the most prominent and resonant motifs in Doig's oeuvre," said Cheyenne Westphal, co-global head of contemporary art at Sotheby's. "For lovers of Doig, it has supreme status."

The painting is the third in Doig's Country-rock series highlighting scenes from the DVP. The other two works are in a private collection in Europe and the PinchukArtCentre in Kiev.

Just last year, his painting The Architect's Home in the Ravine fetched $12 million at auction.

Country-rock (wing-mirror) definitely isn't the first work of art to fetch a questionably outrageous sum. Last November, Jeff Koons' Balloon Dog (Orange), an oversized clown balloon, sold for a staggering $58.4 million. Mark Rothko's Untitled (No. 11), a beige line on an orange background, fetched $46.1 million at auction.

And, of course, Canadian artisans are familiar with the outrage that followed when the National Gallery of Canada purchased Barnett Newman's Voice of Fire, a red vertical line between two blue vertical lines, for $1.8 million in 1989.

But kudos to Doig, who clearly was inspired by the scenery beyond his windshield on the DVP. That inspiration has made him a very wealthy artist.

And let's just be glad that he didn't drive around Jane and Finch or some of the darker parts of Scarborough.

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