Top 7 Canadian Abstract Paintings

7 Canadian Abstract Artists, Why You want to Know Them, and What Their Work Means

1. Gershon Iskowitz, “October #2” (1976)

Gershon Iskowitz, October #2, 1976, oil on canvas, courtesy of Consignor Canadian Fine Art

This painting, executed in Iskowitz’s signature style, was inspired by a helicopter ride in 1967 after he toured northern Manitoba where striking patterns and vistas emerged through tiers of scattered clouds. This inspired Iskowitz to create bold topographical abstract landscapes like “October #2.”

A Jewish refugee from Poland where he survived Nazi Europe, Iskowitz came to Canada in 1949. He spent his early adulthood years in a concentration camp and his first body of work was heavily influenced by his experience. The helicopter ride in Canada drastically changed his artistic style as it did his feeling towards life.

2. Yves Gaucher, “Blue Raga” (1967)

Yves Gaucher, Blue Raga, 1967, acrylic on canvas, Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, © Estate of Yves Gaucher / SODRAC (2015)

This work was inspired by Gaucher’s passion for Indian music and Ali Akbar Khan. Author Roald Nasgaard writes about the green and brown lines that hover above the deep blue background of the painting (look closely they are hard to see!) that they are: “like whispers of sound delicately improvised above the obbligato provided by the green band below.” The green and brown lines serve as signals for different rhythms.

Yves Gaucher was always passionate about music and spent his youth working at the CBC mail room aiming to eventually become a radio announcer. This however did not work out, and after a short stint at printmaking, Gaucher turned to the medium of painting, where he found eventual continual success.

3. Paul-Émile Borduas, “Study for Torso or No. 14” (1942)

Paul-Émile Borduas, Study for Torso or No. 14 (Étude de torse ou No14), 1942 Gouache on paper, 57 x 41.8 cm Private collection

Borduas was an Automatiste (the name of an abstract art group based in Montreal during the '40s and '50s), and this painting was one of the first examples of a true "Automatiste" style. It was inspired by the Surrealist's practice of automatic drawing: where one's hand moves freely across the paper allowing their subconscious to take control. It was only after Borduas finished the work that he recognized the torso. What was his subconscious trying to tell him?

Borduas, surprisingly, began his career as a religious painter and church decorator in France. He apprenticed under Ozias Leduc at the age of 16 and his ideas of disrupting the status quo emerged out of the Great Depression upon his return to Canada in 1930.

4. Harold Town, “Silent Light #1” (1968–69)

Harold Town, Silent Light No. 11, 1968–69 Oil and Lucite on canvas, 132.1 x 132.1 cm Estate of Harold Town

Like a kaleidoscope on canvas, Town’s inspiration for this Optical Art piece was from his own memory: a floor covered with broken Christmas tree decorations. In “Silent Light #11” he creates a scattered/geometric sequence that pull the eye into the center, but at the same time contrasts it with a band of diagonals for optimal impact. Cool!

Harold Town was a founding member of the Abstract Expressionist group Painters Eleven and came to be known as the "bad boy" of Canadian art, notorious for crazy parties and being a dandy. He adored the holidays and was known for having the best ornament-adorned Christmas tree in Toronto! (And probably the merriest Christmas fest).

5. Oscar Cahén "Growing Form" (1953)

Oscar Cahén, Growing Form, 1953, oil on masonite, RBC Corporate Art Collection

Like Gershon Iskowitz, Oscar Cahén left Nazi Europe for Canada, where in addition to becoming a famous painter he was one of his new country’s most successful magazine illustrators. If you couldn’t tell already... this is a painting of a thorny rose! “Growing Form” is about Cahen’s interest in converting recognizable objects into emotionally abstracted forms. The work is meant to recognize that there is no transformation and growth without pain and suffering—the rose doesn’t grow without thorns!

Cahén came to prominence as an illustrator, most notably creating magazine covers for Maclean's. In 1949, he began exploring abstraction which allowed him to experiment and create a completely new art vocabulary.

6. Françoise Sullivan, “Homage to Paterson” (2003)

Françoise Sullivan, Homage to Paterson (Hommage à Paterson), 2003 Acrylic on canvas (diptych), 348 x 574 cm Collection of the artist

This larger than life diptych literally envelops the viewer in hues of red and orange. The varying thickness of brushstrokes produce rhythmical waves and a deep vibration. "Homage to Paterson" is part of a larger series of monochrome works that was inspired by Sullivan's friends whom she often thought about while painting; artists who passed away in the early 2000's. The best and largest canvas (this one) was dedicated to her former husband Paterson Ewen "because he was the greatest of all painters." (How romantic!)

Françoise Sullivan was the master of all trades: she worked in conceptual art, dance, sculpture, and painting, often innovating and creating new relationships between the mediums. She was a member of the Automatiste movement in Montreal and wrote a section in their manifesto on the freeing potential of dance.

7. Robert Houle, “Muhnedobe uhyahyuk (Where the gods are present)” (1989)

Robert Houle, Muhnedobe uhyahyuk (Where the gods are present), 1989 (Matthew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas) Oil on canvas, four paintings, each 244 x 182.4 x 5 cm National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa

Created during Robert Houle's residency at the Winnipeg Art Gallery, “Muhnedobe uhyahyuk (Where the gods are present)” is a series of four landscape paintings that refer to a natural phenomenon at a legendary site of pilgrimage for the Saulteaux. As the water hits the porous limestone of the shore, it makes a muffled drone resembling faraway drums, creating the sound of ke-mishomis-na-ug (“our ancestors”), believed to be the voice of Manitou.

These works not only celebrate the origins of the name "Manitoba" but also re-appropriate and reclaim the province. Houle's main goal as an artist is to start critical conversations about the history and representation of Indigenous peoples mainly in museums and public galleries.