'A distinct Canadian character': The 1920s paintings that changed how the world saw Canada

The Group of Seven was Canada's first internationally recognised national art movement, and they helped create a distinct, modern Canadian identity in the 1920s. As the official Group of Seven Day is celebrated in Canada, what is their legacy – and are their ideas in harmony or conflict with the so-called "Indian Group of Seven", founded later in the 1970s?

In the 1921 painting Stormy Weather, Georgian Bay, a lone tree perches perilously between a rocky outcrop and the churning sea, buffeted by the elements yet refusing to yield to their force. Executed in rough brushstrokes and simplified lines, it celebrates not only the resilience of Canadian settlers and their ability to survive against all odds, but also the dramatic, untamed landscapes with which they joyfully communed.

The painting by FH Varley is one of the most iconic works by The Group of Seven, a groundbreaking art collective who broke with the dominant tradition of European academic painting to create a uniquely Canadian style that revelled in the country's vast natural beauty. 

The group's most celebrated works are "almost like what the Statue of Liberty is for the United States," says Katerina Atanassova, senior curator of Canadian art at The National Gallery of Canada. So beloved are they that 7 July is now celebrated as Group of Seven Day. What is it about their paintings that, for many, embody the Canadian spirit and identity? And where does the group's work stand in relation to the country's Indigenous art?

The group which – in addition to Varley – comprised Franklin Carmichael, Lawren Harris, AY Jackson, Franz Johnston, Arthur Lismer and JEH MacDonald remains hugely popular today, as does Tom Thomson, a major influence, who died before its official formation. Their most acclaimed paintings, which include Thomson's Jack Pine, West Wing and Harris's North Shore, Lake Superior, have become, for many, the national paintings of Canada – embodying the country's spirit.

They began painting in the 1910s, an era when Canada – a self-governing dominion of the British Empire since 1867 – was beginning to find its own social and political identity, but had yet to find an artistic voice. The nascent group was intent on providing just that. A turning point occurred when MacDonald and Harris visited a landmark exhibition of contemporary Scandinavian art in Buffalo, US, in 1913. Norway, Sweden and Finland were all forging their own independent paths at the time. In their sparse landscapes, vividly depicted in flat, bright colours, the two artists saw an expression of national identity that was unequivocally modern.

The aesthetic and intellectual inspiration they took from the Scandinavians was strengthened by the influence of Thomson, a self-taught artist and graphic designer who frequently embarked on lengthy trips into the wilderness, often by canoe, to paint and sketch. "He embodied that ideal, that direct experience that every artist wants to have," Atanassova tells the BBC. It was Thomson who "started the images of the solitary tree", and inspired the future Group of Seven artists to see that the Canadian wilderness "can be viewed as modern and painted as modern", says Atanassova. 

Thomson's death in 1917, at the age of only 40, turned him into a cultural legend, and when the group officially formed in 1920, "the goal was defined that they ought to follow in his footsteps," says Atanassova. Their intention "was not to portray what nature looked like, but........

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