Tom Thomson, a renowned Canadian landscape artist of the early 20th century, was born in Claremont, Ontario in 1877. The artist produced about 400 oil sketches and around 50 larger works on canvas depicting scenes inspired by the Canadian wilderness. His works mainly centered around trees, skies, lakes, and rivers. Thomson held a prominent position in Canada’s culture as an icon for his landscapes and mysterious death.
Thomson worked as a graphic artist at Grip Limited until 1913 before delving into painting full-time. He had a small shack behind the Studio Building located in downtown Toronto where he spent time reflecting on nature and composing some of his most remarkable paintings. Thomson’s amazing perceptual skills with which he captured nature’s beauty impressed his painter friends who later formed the Group of Seven – Canada’s first national school of art.
Despite accomplishing many milestones during his career, Thomson encountered an untimely demise that brought him eternal fame, thanks to the government enshrining him as one of Canada’s iconic figures. Tom died under mysterious circumstances during a fishing trip to Algonquin Park while canoeing back from Canoe Lake to Mowat on July-8-1917; some suggest that he drowned accidentally or was murdered by Harris to cover-up homosexuality allegations surrounding their relationship—for which there is no concrete evidence present!
