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ur neighbors to the north have boundless inspiration
to create—while the metropolitan cities of Vancouver,
Toronto and Montréal are fi lled with bustling energy,
they still hold with them the allure of the Canadian
outdoors. Generally speaking, the country as a whole is
sparsely populated, with forest and tundra making up most of
the land across its 10 provinces.
A skip and a hop from New York City is the eastern city of
Toronto, Ontario, where visitors can experience a diverse art
scene, from historic art museums to modern street art while
strolling down the city streets. One of the largest art museums
in North America is the Art Gallery of Toronto, which houses a
collection of nearly 95,000 works of historic and contemporary
Canadian art, modern American and European art, Indigenous
art, photography and more. The Royal Ontario Museum is
Canada’s largest and most comprehensive museum, housing
a collection of 13 million artworks, cultural objects and natural
history specimens across 40 gallery and exhibition spaces.
Also in Toronto is the annual Artfest Toronto held every
September in the city’s Distillery District, a curated show
featuring 80 artists from across Ontario, Québec and beyond.
Primarily a French-speaking province, Québec is rich with
culture, and Montréal is the largest city there. In addition toinstitutions like the Contemporary Art Museum of Montréal
and The Montréal Museum of Fine Arts, art admirers can
explore the Montréal Art Centre, a haven for art in vibrant and
cutting-edge Gri ntown district. The Centre o ers space for
up to 100 resident artists to create original works in 65 studio
spaces, which are then exhibited from their open personal
studios, as well as in the Centre’s two public galleries: the
Gri ntown Gallery on the second fl oor and the William Street
Gallery on the fi rst fl oor. Less than 10 miles west is Galerie
Richelieu, representing historic and contemporary artists from
Québec, North America and around the world.
Clear across the other side of the country on the western half
is Calgary, Alberta, where one of the most anticipated Western
art events takes place each year: the Calgary Stampede,
running next year from July 3 to 12. The city is also fi lled
to the brim with contemporary art institutions for visitors
to take in and enjoy, including the Institute of Modern and
Contemporary Art and the Art Gallery of Calgary.
Throughout this destination guide, collectors can learn
about a variety of other artists and institutions that call
Canada home, including Francois Chartier, Joyce Fournier,
Cindy Sorley-Keichinger, Rémi LaBarre, Terracana Ranch
Resort and LJL Galleries. The Art Lover's Guide to Collecting Fine Art in
O
CANADA
An aerial view of Québec City in winter. Photo by
Jean-François Bergeron, Enviro Foto.