Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven may not have the iconic glamour of the Da Vinci show, but in its own way it is every bit as eye-opening
Frustrated by the now totally sold-out advance tickets for the National Gallery's blockbuster Leonardo show, and by the up to three-hour queues in Trafalgar Square for the on-the-day tickets too? Then why not head down in peace and comfort to a different kind of once-in-a-lifetime art exhibition currently on show in south London, and at half the price of Leonardo's. Painting Canada: Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven may not have the iconic glamour of the show in Trafalgar Square, but in its own way it is every bit as eye-opening and certainly less familiar. Most of the pictures, always intense and often tiny, are of the Canadian wilderness: landscapes of rocks, trees, hills, water and skies. Human beings barely feature. In some respects the pictures echo early 20th-century northern European national styles, but they have a muscular texture, fierce colour and imagination all their own, which reflects the conscious determination of the 1920s Group to create a vernacular Canadian aesthetic and tradition. Few movements in art can ever have been so successful. In their homeland, both Thomson and the Group of Seven, on whom he was a key influence, are immensely revered. Their work occupies a central place in Toronto's Art Gallery of Ontario and Canada's own national gallery in Ottawa. In this country, though, they are barely known. The current show at the Dulwich Picture Gallery – London's oldest and many people's favourite – is the first showing of their work in London since 1925. Far too long.