Marc-Aurèle Fortin

MARC-AURÈLE FORTIN
Sainte-Rose, Quebec, 1888 – Macamic, Quebec, 1970

View of Montreal from Saint Helen’s Island
About 1927
Oil on canvas
57 x 71.5 cm

Gift of Peter Henry Monk and Joan A. Monk

© Fondation Marc-Aurèle Fortin pour les Arts / CARCC Ottawa 2025
Photo MMFA, Julie Ciot

This work is one of a series of oil paintings Marc-Aurèle Fortin produced in the 1920s, depicting the port of Montreal from Île Sainte-Hélène. The foreground is dominated by trees that line a curving path where people stroll. Nearby, figures tend to their fishing lines. On the other side of the river, boats and trains crowd the port’s quays, which are abuzz with activity. Puffs of smoke partially occlude the silhouettes of the city's buildings, mimicking, in shape, the clouds dotting the sky.

Fortin had cool feelings towards the modern urban reality, much preferring the natural world. View of Montreal from Saint Helen’s Island was created during a pivotal period in Fortin’s career. Through its strong colour palette, it reflects the bold style he became renowned for and that influenced the development of pictorial Modernism in Quebec and Canada alike.