“I think that because I paint people who are close to me, there’s a sense of familiarity, trust, and vulnerability that comes through. The ‘male gaze’ is inherently dehumanizing, and I’m interested in the complete opposite – making work that connects us through our shared humanity.”
—Doron Langberg

An early, large-scale example of the artist’s diverse practice, Doron Langberg’s Dad is a deeply personal portrait of the artist’s father. One of the leading artists amongst a generation of queer figurative painters, Langberg has risen to prominence alongside contemporaries such as Salman Toor, Jenna Gribbon, and Louis Fratino. Known for his tender depictions of queer intimacy, Langberg works from a diverse range of subjects including friends, partners, and family, as well as still lifes and landscapes. Across all his paintings there is an underlying sense of intimacy and affection.

In the present work, the artist depicts his father reclining on a couch. Family portraits are a rare but important motif within Langberg’s practice. By capturing the intimacy of family life alongside moments of more explicit queer relationships, Langberg seeks to ‘make queerness casual’ - normalising queer identity as part of everyday life. As Langberg explains, ‘I don’t want to reduce queer experience to the sexuality of it, which is not just how I experience my life […] I think that queerness ties into my relationship with my family, and I think it ties into my relationship with the state. There are so many different aspects. So, I wanted to just have more room for those types of experiences.’ⁱ

The varied surface of this work is typical of Langberg’s unique style in which his handling of paint becomes an extension of his relationship with the sitter. His use of warm hues like ochre and yellow suggest feelings of intimacy and comfort, while the hazy surface hints to a sense of fleeting memory. Langberg’s paintings are in constant dialogue with art history, especially 19th century French Intimistes such as Pierre Bonnard and Édouard Vuillard. In addition to drawing from the formal qualities of their work, Langberg is also inspired by their deeply personal subject matter: ‘I was so taken by how an everyday scene, like a family sitting around, a loved one taking a bath, or a still life, can hold such emotional intensity.’ⁱⁱ The present work typifies this art-historical dialogue, drawing parallels to Vuillard’s paintings of his mother in everyday domestic settings.

Édouard Vuillard, Madame Hessel au Sofa (Madame Hessel on the Sofa), c. 1905. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool. Image: akg-images

As a central player within a new generation of queer figurative painters, Langberg’s work has received growing recognition from institutions around the world. His works are held in major museum collections including The National Portrait Gallery, London; The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore; Crystal Bridges, Bentonville; and The High Museum of Art, Atlanta. Langberg is currently the subject of his first solo museum exhibition at the Rubell Museum in Miami. Recent institutional group shows include Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters, Frick Madison, New York; A Place for Me: Figurative Painting Now, ICA Boston; Fire Figure Fantasy: Selections from ICA Miami’s Collection, ICA Miami; and Beautiful, Vivid, Self-contained, curated by David Salle, Hill Art Foundation, New York.

ⁱ Doron Langberg, quoted in, Joe Lloyd, ‘Doron Langberg – interview: “There's this rush of empathy and emotion”’, Studio International, 13 September 2021, online.

ⁱⁱ Doron Langberg quoted in Rebecca Martin, ‘Doron Langberg - Intimate Interiors’, Metal Magazine, online.
- Provenance
  Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea, Milan
  Acquired from the above by the present owner
- Exhibited
  Milan, Francesco Pantaleone Arte Contemporanea, Keiran Brennan Hinton, Sarah Faux and Doron Langberg - Outside In, 11 April - 31 May 2018