Collection: Art prints by Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson was a Canadian painter, central pioneer of modern Canadian art and spiritual forerunner of the famous Group of Seven artists. Born in Ontario in 1877, he came to painting relatively late, having initially worked as a graphic artist and technical draughtsman. His stays in Algonquin Provincial Park, where he developed most of his motifs directly in nature, had a decisive influence on his artistic development.

His preferred motifs were the forests, lakes and skies of northern Ontario, with which he had a lasting influence on the artists of the Group of Seven and helped to usher in a new era in Canadian art. Thomson eschewed idealized landscape depictions and instead relied on bold colors, simplified forms and expressive brushwork to reveal the raw energy of the Canadian wilderness.

Although he received little recognition during his lifetime and died in 1917 at the age of 39, Tom Thomson left behind an extremely influential body of work. Today, his paintings are considered key works in Canadian art history and the starting point of an independent national modernism.