Emily Carr's influence has transcended the local and global art community.
The B.C. artist's legacy will be on display in Vancouver for a new year-long exhibit starting this weekend for more generations to admire.
The Vancouver Art Gallery has set up more than 20 of Carr's "signature" coastal and forest landscape paintings which will be showcased for one full year. The public can view them from Saturday, Jan. 25, until Jan. 4, 2026.
The exhibit, formally named "Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape," hopes to draw out the physical experience of the space in Carr's forest scenes, illuminating the "profound belief" in nature's beauty.
“Emily Carr’s forest paintings profoundly shaped the way British Columbians perceive their surroundings to this day,” said Anthony Kiendl, Vancouver Art Gallery CEO and executive director, in a news release.
“We are honoured to celebrate Carr’s enduring legacy, the Emily Carr Trust and our commitment to showcasing Canadian art.”
Gallery guests walk through immersive display of Carr's forest paintings
Kiendl noted that gallery visitors will walk through a densely hung group of thick forest paintings faced off on the opposite wall by a single Carr painting of a clear-cut landscape with an open horizon.
This was done with the hope that, like Carr herself, interested patrons will be ignited with a romantic desire for a spiritual connection with nature, especially B.C.'s West Coast.
“As I came through the mountains, I longed to cast off my earthly body and float away through the great pure spaces between the peaks, up the quiet green ravines into the high, pure, clean air," Carr wrote while travelling from B.C. to Ontario to meet Group of Seven artist Lawren Harris.
"Mr. Harris has painted those very spaces, and my spirit seems able to leave my body and roam among them.”
Carr was born in Victoria in 1871; she died in 1945. Her childhood home, known as Emily Carr House, is a National Historic Site of Canada.
Though not a direct member, she was a known contributor to the Group of Seven, one of Canada's most recognized cohort of landscape artists.
The "Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape" exhibit is curated by Richard Hill, the Smith Jarislowsky Senior Curator of Canadian Art.
Emily Carr: Navigating an Impenetrable Landscape
When: January 25, 2025 to January 4, 2026
Where: Vancouver Art Gallery - 750 Hornby St
Cost: General admission $29 for B.C. residents ($35 for non-B.C. residents). Free for members, youth and children 18 and under, and caregivers for guests with disabilities. Ticket pricing, hours, and info available via the Vancouver Art Gallery website.
