This major exhibition of Canadian art was the largest in history to travel to Europe, featuring an astonishing 122 paintings as well as Tom Thomson’s sketch box. Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven presented the work of Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven as a journey, from woods to sky, from close‐up to endless vista, from sketch to finished work, from Algonquin to the Arctic. The exhibition was framed by Tom Thomson’s views of the lakes and trees of Algonquin Park, and by Lawren Harris’s lonely and vast visions of Lake Superior, the Rockies and the Arctic. Throughout the exhibition, a further backbone was provided by juxtaposing vibrant sketches with finished works – the first time such a pairing had ever been done on this level.

Organized by the National Gallery of Canada and Dulwich Picture Gallery, in collaboration with the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Oslo, and the Groninger Museum, the Netherlands. With the generous support of the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, the Art Gallery of Ontario, and other lenders