In the early twentieth century members of the Group of Seven rose to prominence for their expressive landscape paintings of remote places across Canada, making now iconic works in Algoma, the Rocky Mountains, the Artic, and beyond. But not all of their dazzling works were made in these far-off places. Several members of the Group found inspiration in rural sites across Southern Ontario, sometimes painting in our own backyard.

Close to Home brings together paintings, drawings, and prints created in and around Kleinburg, Vaughan, Thornhill, North York, Markham, Bolton, Orillia, Barrie, and neighbouring locales. These works reflect the deep connections several Group members had to the region: J.E.H. MacDonald, Arthur Lismer, and Fred Varley all lived for a time in Thornhill; Franklin Carmichael grew up in Orillia and later lived in Lansing (North York); and Lawren Harris’s family maintained a property at Allandale on Lake Simcoe. From these vantage points, the artists produced bold, colourful works both en plein air and in their studios, often focusing on agricultural life, brilliant autumn foliage, and the ever-changing southern Ontario sky.