Spring, Caribou Country 1949

A.Y. Jackson made this landscape in the Caribou region of Canada using brisk strokes of oil paint, maybe in one sitting. I can imagine Jackson was out there in the landscape, trying to capture the feel of the place, the space, the light. It must have been windy, you can see it in those bent white trees, bending like blades of grass. They're painted with big, swooping gestures, aren't they? It’s like he's trying to catch the movement of the wind, the rhythm of the land. You can really feel that energy in the way he's applied the paint. And look at the colours he chose: greens, browns, blues and whites all mixed together to capture spring, the freshness of that time of year. There's a real sense of depth, isn't there? You can see the influence of other landscape painters like the Impressionists, but Jackson is doing his own thing, pushing the boundaries. The Group of Seven were all in conversation together, a real exchange of ideas about how to paint the landscape, how to capture the unique qualities of the Canadian wilderness.