In Canada, we proudly display the red in our flag. Reds and oranges characterize our autumn landscape. Many artworks consider significant moments in the history of Canada.

Red in the Canadian Imagination presents two perspectives on the 1759 battle on the Plains of Abraham, one an early celebration of military heroism, and the other a modern native reinterpretation of this pivotal historic moment. Two mid-century works provide tributes to the national landscape and create an iconography from the wilderness and the farm. A 1967 work brings together the country's centenary celebration and the 1960s perspective of women in the reinvention of Canadian art.

Benjamin West
The Death of General Wolfe, 1770

The Death of General Wolfe is a fictional re-creation of a pivotal event in Canadian history, the battle on the Plains of Abraham at Quebec City, which marked the beginning of the end of the Seven Years War between France and Britain.
This monumental history painting depicts a cast of dramatic characters whose grief-stricken gestures announce the central theme: the general has been fatally wounded and his troops look on as news of the British victory arrives. West depicts the fallen general as Christ-like. His brilliant red uniform, the focus of attention, elevates him to the status of hero and martyr.
The red colour unifies the composition: it is repeated in the British soldiers' red uniforms, the red drops of blood, the faded red of the British flag, the feather of the native man, and the red of the fighting troops in the background. In this painting, West creates a theatrical moment in the mythology of Canada.

Robert Houle
Kanata, 1992 © R.Houle

Houle reframes the imagery from the Benjamin West painting The Death of General Wolfe (1770) within a First Nations perspective of history. He sandwiches the central image between solid red and blue panels representing the British and French. This work uses conventions associated with modernism and postmodernism: the flat red and blue panels are typical of a minimal modernist approach, while the re-interpretation of a historical event and appropriation of a history painting is a common postmodernist strategy.
Houle's intent is to invoke another story by drawing attention to the historical marginalization of native perspectives. He has drained the colour from the "heroic" event, displaced it to the panels, and pencilled in the central subject of the painting. He shifts the viewer's perspective from the dying general to the contemplative Indian. Although the blue and red of the Indian's attire suggest that the influence of the British and French have fundamentally marked his culture, he is no longer a witness to the event: he is the subject.

A. Y. Jackson
The Red Maple, 1914
© Courtesy of Dr. Naomi Jackson Groves

In this painting a young maple sapling spans the foreground. Its crimson leaves fan out before the rushing river. Through works such as The Red Maple, artists A.Y. Jackson and the members of the Group of Seven pioneered painting of the wilderness. Canadians were searching for an identity, and these artists provided an innovative vision in a modern painting style that focused on the country's unique landscape as an expression of pride in the untamed beauty of Canada.
Painted in 1914, on the eve of the First World War, the leaves in The Red Maple not only suggest the brilliant colours of autumn, but also foreshadow the bloodshed of war. At this point in history, the single maple leaf, crisp and symmetrical, had already become an important national symbol. Jackson renders the maple leaves in thick, luminous reds, identifying this icon as indigenous to Canada.

L L. FitzGerald
Red Barn, 1934

The red wooden barn has become a central symbol of historical Canadian economic and social life. This painting was created during the Depression years, when Canada was in the midst of transforming from a predominantly agricultural to an industrial economy.
In the painting the barn's weathered red is fading into blues, as the function of the building is changing. The harsh reality of the Depression and the struggle of the farmers resulted in the disappearance of a way of life. The barn stands as a reminder of this lost ideal. Fitzgerald was a regionalist painter, occupied with subjects close to his Winnipeg home.

Joyce Wieland
Confedspread, 1967

Colourful, interlocking stuffed plastic rectangles form a soft collage, like the patches of a quilt. The newly unveiled Canadian flag is a recurring motif that Wieland playfully modified in this work: a pink maple leaf slips to the edge of the flag, another is viewed through transparent red plastic. The whimsical bright red cubes recall children's building blocks.
Confedspread, made for Expo '67, the world exhibition held in Montreal, celebrates the 100th anniversary of Canada's Confederation. The red in this multicoloured vinyl and cloth mosaic playfully asserts national pride and the love the artist felt for her country.
During this period in her career, Joyce Wieland equated Canada and its landscape with her identity as a woman. She transforms the quilt form from traditional women's labour in the home to politically thoughtful art exhibited in a public place.