The National Gallery of Canada will reopen its doors to the public on July 18, 2020. Learn more
Where art connects us all
Welcome to Virtual NGC – In these uncertain times, we are delighted to provide you with our new virtual experience, where we can all connect with the restorative and enriching power of art.
From curator’s choice and virtual gallery features to thought-provoking articles and downloadable resources. We invite you to tour and explore. Please check back often for the latest features.
Collection Highlights
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Get to know some of the significant works in Canada’s national art collection featured in this new video series, as curators share their knowledge with us. Watch these videos, and check back often for the latest additions.
Find out more about Tom Thomson’s iconic work, The Jack Pine, with Christopher Davidson, Curatorial Assistant of Canadian Art.
Listen to Senior Curator of Contemporary Art Josée Drouin-Brisebois as she talks about Janet Cardiff's brilliant sound sculpture Forty-Part Motet.
Delve into Gustav Klimt’s fascinating Hope I with Anabelle Kienle Ponka, Associate Curator of European and American Art.
Explore Lucius R. O'Brien’s Sunrise on the Saguenay, Cape Trinity with Christopher Davidson, Curatorial Assistant of Canadian Art.
Watch Associate Curator of Indigenous Art Christine Lalonde as she talks about Annie Pootoogook’s Cape Dorset Freezer.
Experience the Tradition
of the Salon
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One of the highlights of the Canadian and Indigenous Galleries is its salon-style wall, featuring a floor-to-ceiling selection of 23 works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Don’t miss this unforgettable feature, brought to you virtually during our temporary closure.
Curator’s Choice
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We asked National Gallery of Canada curators to share some of their favourite works from the national art collection, as well as what the works mean to them.
Viewing Room
Take a closer look at a selection of historical photography from the collection of the National Gallery of Canada. Use the zoom feature to explore details not easily seen by the naked eye, and activate hotspots to learn more.
Earthly Delights
Take a walk on the botanical wild side, as you explore masterworks in the Gallery’s European and Canadian collections with an award-winning gardener and art historian.
A Time of Radical Change
Explore the Gallery's collection of French painting and sculpture from around 1800.
From the Archives
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Jackoposie Oopakak carved Nunali in the late 1980s. Traditional Inuit imagery and modern high-precision tools combine to depict an entire arctic worldview on a set of antlers. Find out more about this extraordinary sculpture in this video.
100 Years of the
Group of Seven
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Franklin Carmichael
Lawren S. Harris
A.Y. Jackson
Franz Johnston
Arthur Lismer
J.E.H. MacDonald
F.H. Varley
From North Shore, Lake Superior by Lawren S. Harris to Terre Sauvage by A.Y. Jackson, works by the Group of Seven have come to symbolize Canada. Inspired by the Canadian wilderness, they turned rugged landscapes into places of mystery and solitude, and launched a new art movement in the process.
May 2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the Group of Seven’s first exhibition, making this an ideal time to reacquaint yourself with some of Canada’s most iconic works of art. Get to know the original members of the Group and their respective work, and watch for a new Canada Post stamp series, featuring two works from the Gallery collection: Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay by F.H. Varley and Fire-swept, Algoma by Franz Johnston.
We had commenced our great adventure. We lived in a continuous blaze of enthusiasm. We were at times very serious and concerned, at other times hilarious and carefree. Above all we loved this country and loved exploring and painting it. – Lawren Harris, 1948
J.E.H. MacDonald, The Tangled Garden, 1916, oil on beaverboard, 121.4 x 152.4 cm. Gift of W.M. Southam, F.N. Southam, and H.S. Southam, 1937, in memory of their brother Richard Southam. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa. Photo: NGC
Saturday Spotlight Tours
Explore the national art collection as our experts take you inside the Gallery for virtual theme-based tours. A new tour is posted each week.
House Blend Live — Grab a cup of coffee, and catch up on the latest instalments of House Blend, a weekly Instagram Live series featuring fascinating conversations between NGC curators and their guests.
Experience Àbadakone Online!
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A resounding success from the day it opened in November 2019, this overview of contemporary Indigenous art can now be experienced online. Explore the exhibition and its artists through features that include a virtual gallery, highlight videos and more.
Photostories Canada
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Travel through fascinating moments in Canadian history. Explore more than 800 photostories, created between 1955 and 1971 by the National Film Board of Canada’s Still Photography Division. Search this virtual exhibition by year, location, photographer or subject, and let your curiosity guide you from one story to another. In addition, don’t forget to create your own photostory, using the website’s app.
Unknown, Out on the sea ice of the high arctic a National Film Board crew set up their camera near a towering iceberg, during shooting of Land of the Long Day, Photostory #378: National Film Board Records 25 Years of National Growth: Presenting Canada to the World, National Film Board of Canada, date unknown (release date: December 1, 1964), black and white negative. CMCP Fonds, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, LAC-NFB63322
Revisit Our Exhibitions
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From our popular exhibition of international indigenous contemporary art Àbadakone | Continuous Fire | Feu continuel to the Impressionist treasures of the Ordrupgaard Collection and the splendour of Laurent Amiot’s silver masterpieces, explore our extensive selection of past and present exhibition-related videos on the Gallery’s YouTube channel.
Get Creative
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Keep your creative juices flowing through an evolving array of fun art-making activities, downloadable resources, and more.
Bring a little bit of the Gallery into your home.
Download these colouring pages of masterpieces from the national art collection.
Need fresh ideas for creative family fun?
Check out the projects below, all made with simple materials you already have on hand.
Fantastic creatures come to life! Carve your own stamps of animals you know and love, or make up new imaginary beasts.
Create your own paper puppets! These collaged stick puppets are inspired by the 23,595 paper cutouts in Leaves of Grass (2012) by Canadian artist Geoffrey Farmer.
Let’s get marbling! Try this fun way of making marbled paper, as you learn about mixing colours.
Channel your inner A.Y. Jackson, Courbet or Rembrandt through this special selection of art lessons.
Grab your camera and join us as we adapt lessons learned from the Group of Seven's paintings to help you see your world through a new lens.
Compelling Reads
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Spend some time learning about the artists and works that make up Canada’s national art collection.
National Gallery of Canada
Review, 2020 Issue
Published annually, the National Gallery of Canada Review features original research on works in the Gallery’s collections and the areas of investigation they represent.
The Photograph as Object
Digital Flipbook
Originally published in 1969, this catalog accompanied the inaugural exhibition of photographs from the Gallery’s collection.
