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Virtual NGC
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.
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.
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.
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 —
Art + Coffee + Conversation
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 colleagues.
From the Archives:
The Death of General Wolfe
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Benjamin West's painting The Death of General Wolfe, created in 1770, quickly became one of the most reproduced images of its time. What made this painting such a sensation? Find the answer in this video.
And don’t forget to download our printable PDF colouring page, to create your own version of West’s iconic work.
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
Make Art at Home!
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Keep your creative juices flowing through an evolving array of fun art-making activities, articles, downloadable resources, and more.
Learn about colour mixing while making beautiful marbled paper. View the instructions.
See how many monsters you find, as you colour in this sheet based on our Beautiful Monsters exhibition. Download
Create a lasting record for your work with this artwork label. Download
Brighten your world with a stained-glass design made with simple materials you have at home. Learn more
Compelling Reads
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Spend some time learning about the artists and works that make up Canada’s national art collection.
The Photograph as Object Digital Flipbook
Originally published in 1969, this catalog accompanied the inaugural exhibition of photographs from the Gallery’s collection.