July 8 marked the 105th anniversary of Tom Thomson's mysterious passing in Canoe Lake, Algonquin Park, his favourite painting location.
Arthur Lismer described Thomson as someone who "sought the wilderness, never seeking to tame it, but only to draw from it, its magic of tangle and season."
An accomplished outdoorsman, fisherman, and canoeist, he spent the last years of his life working as a guide at Algonquin, a lifestyle that freed him to work in the natural setting he loved and painted.
The landscape paintings he created during this time established a distinctly Canadian art style and an image of the Ontario wilderness that endures today.
Tom Thomson (1877–1917), Summer Day, 1915, oil on board, 21.6 x 26.8 cm, Gift of Mr. R.A. Laidlaw, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1966.15.18
He was a gift to the country.
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