PROVENANCE
Jacoby’s House of Antiques, Montreal, November 17, 1976
Galerie Walter Klinkhoff Inc., Montreal
A.K. Prakash & Associates Inc., Toronto
Private Collection, Nova Scotia

Marc-Aurèle Fortin’s depictions of Quebec’s rural landscapes are suffused with a profound reverence for the natural world, where trees—particularly the majestic elm—stand as enduring sentinels. Summer Landscape, painted in 1955, serves as a quintessential example of Fortin’s exceptional command of colour and form.

In this work, Fortin plays with scale and perspective to capture a sense of place. The stately elm tree in the left foreground asserts its grandeur, its graceful foliage cascading over the pink house and the horse-drawn wagon below. The wagon, rendered in a deliberately exaggerated scale, almost rivals the house in size, creating a striking equilibrium within the composition. This purposeful distortion of scale, coupled with Fortin’s signature flattening of planes, imbues the scene with a dreamlike quality, inviting the viewer into a realm where the boundaries between reality and imagination seamlessly blur. The painting celebrates the beauty of the rural landscape and at the same time reflects Fortin’s innovative approach to visual storytelling.

Notably, the artist allows the Masonite board to show through in areas, using its natural tone to enhance the texture and warmth of the scene. Summer Landscape stands as a definitive example of Fortin’s unique artistic vision and his ability to elevate the ordinary into something extraordinary.

All prices are in Canadian Dollars