Dexter Dalwood

Gagosian Gallery, London
Acquired directly from the above by the present owner in 2001

London, Saatchi Gallery; Leeds, Leeds City Art Gallery, The Triumph of Painting, 2005-6, n.p., illustrated in colour

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate although the whites in the upper left quadrant of the composition tend more towards a light cream colour in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. No restoration is apparent when examined under ultraviolet light.
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Dexter Dalwood's paintings draw from our collective imagination of famous places that despite their inaccessibility, have a lively though largely fantastic existence in our minds. Often depending on written accounts, the artist reconstructs the spaces we have heard of but never seen; places where writers died, film stars slept and politicians lived.

In Gorbachev's Winter Retreat, the holiday residence of the USSR's famed politician is depicted in Dalwood's signature style, first constructed as a collage, then reproduced into the present painting. Keeping the mystery of these places alive, Dalwood does not attempt to accurately reconstruct them from photographs but instead relies on written descriptions. Through various collaged elements, the artist constructs spaces that refer to both the universal images of the mass media and the uniqueness of their referents.

Gorbachev’s Winter Retreat is an outstanding example of Dalwood’s fascinating practice. Surrounded by a landscape covered in snow, the painting offers us a glance into the cinematic interior of Gorbachev’s winter residence. The open roof could refer to his policy of glasnost (openness), whilst the contrast between the rural winter landscape and the American interior invokes the perestroika (the restructuring of the Soviet Union) that would bring Russia and the West closer together.