Spring is here, and along with the warmer weather and longer days, there are exciting things to see and do all across the country. Art shows, performances and concerts are just a few that I'm personally looking forward to.
As someone who has explored so much of Toronto and the GTA, I was excited to learn about the McMichael Canadian Art Collection and surprised that I’d never been there before.
The McMichael is about an hour's drive north from Toronto, located on the original lands of the Ojibwe Anishinaabe People near the city of Vaughan. The collection holds thousands of famous paintings by iconic Canadian, Métis, Inuit and contemporary artists, with new exhibitions on rotation every season.
I was lucky enough to check out several of their current exhibits, including a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to view a legendary private art collection, Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art.
Now public for the first time ever, this rare exhibition showcases stunning art from all corners of the country that has impacted Canadian culture over, well, generations. It features 170 works by diverse local artists, including 19th-century settler artists, Quebec impressionists, Ontario’s Group of Seven, Emily Carr, Kent Monkman and Sobey Art Award winner Annie Pootoogook.
Now, I’m no art critic, but what I found particularly neat about this beautiful exhibit was the way the artwork was laid out across the gallery.
Before arriving, I expected the collection to be a chronological run-through of Canadian history — but that wasn't what I found. While the experience was certainly historical, the show's curators opened up exciting conversations by pairing unlikely artists together.
It felt unique to view Quebec impressionist Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté's "Magog River, Winter" with Ontario's Tom Thomson's "Moonlight" in my peripheral and discover the similarities between these distinct art cultures.
Getting to the gallery from downtown Toronto was easy enough, and there was plenty of parking on site. The first thing I noticed upon arrival was how gorgeous the surrounding area was — with winding walking trails, stone carvings and even a reconstruction of the iconic Thomson Shack.
The gallery building itself is a work of art, with grand peaked ceilings, sprawling wood beams and giant windows that overlook tall pines and maples.
The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Tuesday to Sunday and holiday Mondays, and parking costs $7 for the day.
Admission is free for children, $5 if you're 25 or under, $15 for seniors and $18 for adults. And every Tuesday until May 31, 2022, you can visit McMichael for free!
I recommend starting with the exhibits on the main floor before going upstairs to check out Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art.
If you need a break, you can sit down for lunch at the gallery's in-house restaurant, CABIN. The avocado toast was 10/10 and the service was exceptional, by the way.
While Generations is on display at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection until May 23 of this year, the gallery can also be explored virtually. You can go on tours, take educational classes and enjoy curatorial talks right at home.
To give more Canadians the chance to experience Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art, the exhibit will be going on tour. So even if you can't make it to the McMichael, you can still catch the show when it comes to a gallery near you:
- The Rooms in St. John’s, Newfoundland, from June 24, 2022, until January 22, 2023
- The Art Gallery of Alberta in Edmonton, Alberta, from February 18, 2023, until May 14, 2023
- The Confederation Centre in Charlottetown, P.E.I., from June 10, 2023, until September 4, 2023
- The Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, Halifax, in fall 2023
Generations: The Sobey Family & Canadian Art
Price: From $5 to $18 (free on Tuesdays until May 31, 2022)
When: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. February 12, 2022, to May 23, 2022
Address: 10365 Islington Ave., Kleinburg, ON
Why You Need To Go: Enjoy rare combinations of artworks collected over three generations by the Sobey family, featuring 170 works from 19th-century settlers, Quebec impressionists, Ontario’s Group of Seven, Emily Carr, Kent Monkman, Annie Pootoogook and more.
To learn more about Generations: The Sobey Family and Canadian Art exhibition, check out the McMichael Gallery website or follow them on Facebook and Twitter.
Although products were provided for free in this review, the author's opinions are genuine and do not reflect the views of Narcity Media.