Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson
Life & Work by David P. Silcox
Tom Thomson, Pine Trees at Sunset, 1915
Oil on board, 26.7 x 21 cm
Private collection, Calgary
One of the reasons Pines Trees at Sunset is special is because it is firmly related to The
Jack Pine, 1916–17, one of Thomson’s greatest canvases. He painted The Jack Pine
during the winter after he had earlier sketched this luminous sunset. The three scraggly,
silhouetted pines with their clumps of branches, surrounded by young-growth trees, are
set against a gorgeous and arresting sky.
Here Thomson lays out not only the parameters of the colour scheme he uses in
The Jack Pine but, to some extent, the composition as well. The colours used in the sky
—an orangey-yellow worthy of Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890)—thickly and frenetically
applied, slowly give way at the top of the painting to a strangely acidic green. The surface
of the water reflects the sky. Without doubt, this sketch must have been much in
Thomson’s mind when he painted The Jack Pine.
In this relatively rare vertical oil sketch, Thomson captures the transition
as day slides toward night in the North. Thomson was drawn to these dramatic events—
sunsets, dawns, rainbows, lightning, thunderclouds, breaking storms, first snow, frost,
and ice on trees—along with the northern lights, migratory flights of geese, the spring
melting of river ice, a marsh baking under a hot summer sun, and logs tumbling
downstream.
These subjects from nature were at the core of Thomson’s thought and creation.
He focused on presenting his experiences with the natural world and on conveying his
reactions to it. He did this in a way that reflected the sensibilities of the period in which
he lived. As he gained experience and skill, he increasingly stretched the boundaries of
the painting conventions he had learned.
Fire-Swept Hills 1915
Tom Thomson, Moonlight, c. 1913–14, oil on
board, 26.4 x 21.6 cm, private collection. Here, in
a vertical sketch of similar size, Thomson captures
another natural event – the tranquil beauty of a
moonlit night
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