Colville's Unsettling Genius

Explore the power of Alex Colville’s paintings.

Written by Nelle Oosterom

 — Posted July 15, 2015

His paintings have the power to move — and to unsettle — viewers. Alex Colville’s rich art legacy was the subject of a major exhibit at the National Gallery of Canada. The Ottawa exhibit, a collaboration between Art Gallery of Ontario and the National Gallery, opened in April 2015 and ran until September 7, 2015. It featured more than 250 paintings and sketches by Colville, a Second World War artist who went on to become of one Canada’s most celebrated painters. Colville, who painted in the realism style, died in 2013.

  • Single building white church in the background with a black horse running towards the viewer.
    Church and Horse, 1964.
    National Gallery of Canada
  • Horse running away from the viewer on train tracks towards a train that is in the distance.
    Horse and Train, 1954.
    National Gallery of Canada
  • Man sitting in chair on left, women sitting behind a piano on right, dog curled on floor between them
    Living Room, 1999-2000.
    National Gallery of Canada
  • Man sits with elbows on table, hand in front of chin, pistol sits on table.
    Target Pistol and Man, 1980.
    National Gallery of Canada
  • A soldier and a women embrace beside train tracks.
    Soldier and Girl at Station, 1953.
    National Gallery of Canada
  • A women sits on a boat looking toward the viewer through a pair of binoculars.
    To Prince Edward Island, 1965.
    National Gallery of Canada
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