Old Growth: Masterworks by the Group of Seven and Their Contemporaries
Opening March 14, 2026
Lawren S. Harris (1885–1970), Mt. Lefroy, 1930, oil on canvas, 133.5 x 153.5 cm, Purchase 1975, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1975.7 © Family of Lawren S. Harris
Emily Carr (1871–1945), New Growth, c. 1936, oil on canvas, 46.4 x 65.1 cm, Purchase 1972, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1972.10
Tom Thomson (1877–1917), Woodland Waterfall, 1916–1917, oil on canvas, 121.9 x 132.5 cm, Purchase 1977 with Funds Donated by The W. Garfield Weston Foundation, McMichael Canadian Art Collection, 1977.48
Old Growth invites visitors to experience the McMichael’s most iconic and enduring treasures, artworks that have shaped the way generations have seen and felt the Canadian experience.
Like the towering trees of an old-growth forest, these works are deeply rooted in the country’s cultural memory and foundational to the McMichael’s identity. Featuring masterworks by canonical artists such as Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris, Emily Carr, A.Y. Jackson, and J.E.H. MacDonald, the exhibition is organized geographically, bringing visitors on a journey from the forests of Algoma to the peaks of the Rockies to the Arctic tundra.
These beloved works are essential to the story of the art of Canada, but they are also part of a larger, evolving conversation. Old Growth also includes works by often-overlooked contemporaries of the Group of Seven, like Anne Savage, Kathleen Daly Pepper, and Bess Harris. Their contributions enrich the familiar narrative and will be a great discovery for many. Taking this broader lens, Old Growth offers a more expansive understanding of Canadian art: one that honours the past while making room for other voices and perspectives.