Past
Exhibitions

Northern Narratives explored the mystique and spiritual power of Canada's North.

While Group of Seven member Frank Johnston is widely recognized as a painter, his interest in photography is lesser known. He considered himself an amateur photographer, and recognized the medium as its own distinct art form.

This House Was Made for Christmas celebrated the art of Christmas greetings with a display of Christmas cards designed by seminal Canadian artists of the twentieth century.

Since its foundational gift from Robert and Signe McMichael, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection has been committed to celebrating the stories of private collectors.

"The breath of the Four Seasons must ever be our basic inspiration." — J.E.H. MacDonald, A Landmark of Canadian Art (1917) Canada is celebrated for its four beautiful and distinct seasons, which have especially inspired our landscape painters.

In July 1979, the McMichael was honoured to host Norval Morrisseau as artist-in-residence. For three weeks, Morrisseau worked in the Tom Thomson Shack where visitors could engage with the artist and see his painting process. He worked on sixteen paintings which were commissioned by the McMichael.

J.E.H. MacDonald once noted that Lawren Harris was compelled to sing a tune when he sat nearby the natural rhythms of water to paint en plein air.During the summer of 2017 – Canada’s 150th year – the McMichael Canadian Art Collection will become a place to wander, celebrate and delight in acoustic space.

Consider this exhibition to be a love letter to Tom Thomson and Canada – two subjects at the core of the 2017-year as we celebrate Canada’s 150th year and the centenary of Thomson’s death. Passion Over Reason will take a critical approach to our fascination with Thomson and show how today’s current culture of hipster or lumbersexual fashion, as well as cultivation of outsider creed, has confirmed what Wieland pointed to in the 1970s: Thomson is Canada. This exhibition will also allow for an account of feminist approaches to the topic of Canada in art then and now.

A Primary Exhibition organized by the McMichael Canadian Art Collection for Scotiabank CONTACT Photography Festival Size Matters brings together the work of painter Steve Driscoll and photographer Finn O’Hara for their first-ever exhibition at a public art gallery. These Toronto-based artists face a dichotomy familiar to many Millennials: urban lifestyles combined with a love for the outdoors. Their work is a creative response to the need for a sense of scale.

This exhibition featured recent photographic work by internationally acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Sarah Anne Johnson (born 1976). Field Trip was inspired by the artist’s fascination with outdoor music festivals. Johnson first attended an outdoor festival at age sixteen, becoming immediately attracted to its dynamic and pleasure-seeking lifestyle which represented a rite-of-passage for her and many other young people.

Most great works of art begin with a drawing: ideas come out on paper first. There is a degree of intimacy and immediacy that is inherent with works on paper, and this exhibition celebrated these qualities. On Paper was on view for a limited time only, since light exposure must be kept to a minimum to ensure the conservation of the artworks.

The McMichael owes its existence and collection to the generosity of donors. A Foundation for Fifty Years will present some of the most significant donations made for the McMichael gallery’s founding year, 1966, by Signe and Robert McMichael, as well as their peers, who were all excited to make Canadian masterworks a gift to the public of Ontario. Installed in the McMichael’s principle gallery on the ground floor, this collection of masterworks celebrates our core artists - the Group of Seven and their contemporaries.