Larry Humber

Meeting of Canadian and Italian prime ministers at Art Gallery of Ontario cancelled due to protest

Pro-Palestine activists rallied outside the museum in protest of Justin Trudeau’s response to the Israel-Hamas war

Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum reveals details of $97m renovation project

The institution's “gift to the city, the province and beyond”, OpenROM will upgrade its public space, improve accessibility and add 6,000 sq. ft of galleries

Art marketanalysis

Works by Canadian abstractionist Jean-Paul Riopelle rack up $8m at Heffel’s evening sale in Toronto

The two-part auction, coinciding with the centenary of Riopelle's birth, took in $17.2m in total

Prizesnews

Inuvialuk artist Kablusiak wins Canada’s top art prize

The 2023 Sobey Art Award went to the Calgary-based artist, who is known for her wide-ranging, multidisciplinary approach that incorporates and reimagines Inuk traditions

Canada’s new two-dollar coin features detail of Jean Paul Riopelle painting

Three million of the coins, affectionately known as “toonies”, will go into circulation to mark the artist’s centennial

Prizesnews

Finalists revealed for Canada’s top contemporary art prize

The winner of the C$100,000 Sobey Art Award for 2023 will be announced in November

Jean-François Bélisle to succeed Angela Cassie as National Gallery of Canada director

NGC's new director, formerly chief curator of Musée d’art de Joliette in Quebec, enters the organisation at a turbulent time in its management

Paintings by Alex Colville and Emily Carr top the bill at Heffel’s big spring auctions in Toronto

The Canadian auction house also saw strong results from works by members of the Group of Seven and a soaring Warhol print

Photographer Edward Burtynsky brings in high-tech scanner to help digitise Inuit art

The complex machine, developed in collaboration with Factum Arte, processes thousands of drawings from the Cape Dorset collection

Shows, plays and pavilions at home and abroad mark Canadian modernist Jean Paul Riopelle's centennial

The pioneering abstract painter’s legacy will be front and centre in Montréal, Ottawa, Paris and elsewhere

Art Gallery of Ontario reveals designs for new $73m modern and contemporary art wing

Construction of the 40,000 sq. ft space, dubbed the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery, is expected to begin in early 2024, with an opening scheduled in 2027

National Gallery of Canada reopens after tumultuous end to 2022

From an exhibition celebrating Canadian women artists to a major centennial retrospective of Jean Paul Riopelle, the museum has ambitious plans for 2023

Michael Snow, avant-garde film-maker and sculptor, has died aged 94

The witty Canadian polymath caused a sensation with his 1967 underground film "Wavelength" and enjoyed public dispute over his city sculptures

Canada’s National Portrait Gallery has no collection or physical space—but it does have ambitious plans

More than a decade after a previous attempt fizzled out, a new institution is on the prowl for prime real estate in Ottawa

A new exhibition in Toronto sheds light on the Leonard Cohen few knew

“Leonard Cohen: Everybody Knows” chronicles the late, multi-hyphenate artist’s life and many creative careers

Queen Elizabeth II portrait makes $853,000 in Toronto—a record for a Warhol print at auction

Healthy bidding at Canadian auction house Heffel also achieved strong results for painter Lawren Harris

Canada's National Gallery abruptly lays off four senior staff, including chief curator and Indigenous art curator

In an internal memo to staff, the museum's interim director wrote that the sudden changes were made "to better align the gallery’s leadership team with the organisation’s new strategic plan"

Prizesnews

Divya Mehra wins Canada’s top art prize, the Sobey Art Award

The Winnipeg-born artist’s work spans many media and often incorporates humour all the while addressing issues of identity, repatriation and cultural consumption

The late Denyse Thomasos, a star of the latest Whitney Biennial, lives again in Toronto

The artist’s enormous abstract compositions are the focus of a major exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario

Canadian foundation will give more than $150,000 to artists of Ukrainian heritage

The Hnatyshyn Foundation will confer awards to ten displaced Ukrainian artists and ten Canadian artists of Ukrainian descent

Art Gallery of Ontario unveils its first public art commission, an elephantine bronze by Brian Jungen

The massive sculpture, five years in the making, depicts a tragic circus elephant recreated out of trashed leather furniture

Shortlisted artists revealed for Canada’s 2022 Sobey Art Award

Works by the finalists vying for the country’s top contemporary art prize will go on view at the National Gallery in Ottawa in October

Director of Canada’s National Gallery will be next leader of the Philadelphia Museum of Art

In Philadelphia, Sasha Suda will succeed Timothy Rub, whose 13-year tenure included both major achievements and significant turmoil

Riopelle outshines Motherwell at Canadian auction house Heffel’s major spring sales

The auctions also saw major results for Alex Colville and Emily Carr, and a new auction record for Rita Letendre

Subversive Canadian art collective General Idea go mainstream with major Ottawa show

A major retrospective at the National Gallery of Canada aims to make the trio's “complex practice a bit more accessible”

Art Gallery of Ontario goes big with plans for new Modern and contemporary wing

The 50,000 sq. ft showplace, dubbed AGO Global Contemporary, is set to launch in 2026-27

Giant David Hockney painting, unseen in nearly 30 years, steals the show at Toronto’s Art Gallery of Ontario

The 24ft wide canvas is one of the treasures in ‘I Am Here’, a thematic exhibition of artists’ collections, lists and depictions of everyday scenes

Biennialpreview

Turner Prize and Sobey Award winners and Judy Chicago highlight Toronto’s second biennial

Whereas the inaugural biennial focused on the city’s lakefront shoreline, this pandemic-delayed sophomore edition is organised along Toronto’s creeks and ravines

National Gallery of Canada launches an Indigenous ways and decolonisation department

The new department, which pursue greater inclusivity and representation of Indigenous perspectives and art, will be led by Michelle LaVallee and Steven Loft

Works by Emily Carr and Paul Kane are the big tickets at marquee Canadian auction

High demand for Canadiana, from a historic ceramic dessert set to Group of Seven paintings, drove Heffel’s major autumn sale in Toronto