Today, we present the last masterpiece from our special partnership with the McMichael Canadian Art Collection—and what a stunning landscape it is. Enjoy! :)
J.E.H. MacDonald, one of the founding members of the legendary Group of Seven, was a visionary artist whose work helped redefine Canadian art. Born in Durham, England, he moved to Canada at 14 and began his career as a commercial artist at Toronto’s Grip Ltd., where he met fellow artists like Tom Thomson and Arthur Lismer. In 1920, they formed the Group of Seven, like-minded painters dedicated to capturing the wild beauty of the Canadian landscape. Initially seen as rebellious outsiders, by the time of their final show in 1932, they had transformed Canadian art, becoming the new establishment.
MacDonald was a master of the small, spontaneous oil sketch, using the outdoors as his studio to capture the fleeting effects of light and weather. Northern Lights (1915/1916), a small oil painting, uses bold, expressive brushstrokes and vivid colors that convey the grandeur of the night sky. Painted en plein air, this piece captures the ethereal glow of the aurora borealis, with bold greens and yellows streaming across the sky. The dark silhouettes of trees anchor the scene, contrasting with the luminous, almost ethereal glow of the night sky, and grounding us in the stillness of the landscape below.
Beyond painting, MacDonald was a poet, graphic designer, and art teacher; he was deeply influenced by American writers like Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman and the Arts and Crafts movement of William Morris. His romantic, philosophical approach to art is summed up in his own words: "It is the work of the Canadian artist to paint or play or write in such a way that life will be enlarged for himself and his fellow man. The painter will look around him ... and, finding everything good, will strive to communicate that feeling through a portrayal of the essentials of sunlight, or snow, or tree or tragic cloud, or human face, according to his power and individuality."
With Northern Lights, MacDonald invites us to witness the magic of the Canadian night sky, rendered in vibrant color and deep emotion, capturing not just a landscape, but the sense of wonder it evokes.
P.S. The McMichael Canadian Art Collection holds some truly outstanding artworks. We've asked their team for a list of their favorite! Here are the McMichael staff picks! If you want to learn more about MacDonald, read about the Group of Seven, which produced some of the best Canadian paintings.