Tom Thomson

Tom Thomson
Life & Work by David P. Silcox
First Snow in Autumn 1916
Tom Thomson, First Snow in Autumn, 1916
Oil on panel, 12.8 x 8.2 cm
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Thomson was moved to record the first snow of the winter, probably in late October or
early November 1916. He did so in a way that turns these few square centimetres into a
maelstrom of pigment that is at once tightly organized yet almost chaotically in motion.
In First Snow in Autumn, by omitting any sense of finish or tidiness, Thomson
achieves the freedom he had been working toward over the previous three years.
Judging by his work during his final year, his all-consuming objective was to express
emotion and passion. The issues of scale and artlessness—of making the act of painting
look simple and casual—were also stirring in his work. Just a few weeks after he painted
this little image he began work on ten large canvases, a daunting ambition.
In this tiny painting, with just three basic colours (white, a mixed blue-grey, and a
strange blend of browns that is sometimes greenish and sometimes deep orangey-grey),
Thomson creates a radiant gem that is animated throughout. The painting has depth too,
the scene is distinct and specific, and his sense of accuracy underlies a painted surface
of compulsive, obsessive improvisation.
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