09/05/2026
🖼️ Tom Thomson, The Jack Pine (1916–17), oil on canvas, 127.9 x 139.8 cm. National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa, ON)
🌲 The Jack Pine is a well-known oil painting by Canadian artist Tom Thomson. A representation of the most broadly distributed pine species in Canada, it is considered an iconic image of the country's landscape and is one of the country's most widely recognized and reproduced artworks.
🏕️ Interesting Fact: The pine depicted in the painting was located by park staff in 1970. It later fell over and was used... FOR FIREWOOD BY CAMPERS! 😱
🎨 Thomas John Thomson was born on August 5th, 1877, in Claremont, Ontario.
🍁Tom Thomson was not a member of the Group of Seven, although he was closely associated with the artists in the group before he died.
👨🎨 When Thomson took his first visit to Algonquin Park in 1912, he fell in love with the beauty of the nature around him. He began to paint scenes from the park, and would often disappear for days into the park to paint a beautiful scene he had found. He produced many small oil sketches in the park, as they were easy to carry around; many of these sketches can still be seen at the Art Gallery of Ontario.
🛶 On July 8, 1917, Thomson disappeared during a canoeing trip on Canoe Lake. His upturned canoe was spotted later in the afternoon, and his body was discovered in the lake eight days later. It was noted that he had a four-inch cut on his right temple and had bled from his right ear. The cause of death was officially determined to be "accidental drowning."
🖌️ During his life he sold only a few paintings; however, those he did sell paved the way for future exhibitions after his death. One such exhibition in London, England, helped to bring international attention to Thomson’s work. Today his work continues to grow even more valuable; in 2002 the National Gallery of Canada had a major exhibition of his work.
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