Champ-de-Mars, Winter

A teacher, the director of the Art Association’s art school from 1886 to 1921 and an active member of various art groups, William Brymner played an influential role in regard to young Canadian artists. He worked in all genres, and although he painted few urban scenes, he is the creator of this remarkable view of the esplanade behind Montreal’s Hôtel de Ville, where military parades and exercises were once held. A sensitive and attentive landscape painter, Brymner has captured the very moment when day shifts to night.