National Gallery of Canada |
Beginning in 1914 he acted as fire fighter and guide in Algonquin Park in northern Ontario. During the next three years he produced many of his most famous works, including The Jack Pine and The West Wind. However, during a canoeing trip in July of 1917, he disappeared, and his body was discovered on July 17. The official cause of death was drowning, but there are still questions about how he actually died. He was buried at Canoe Lake in Algonquin Park, but at the request of his family his body was reinterred in the family plot beside Leith United Church. In 1967 the Tom Thomson Memorial Art Gallery opened in Owen Sound.
He is often considered a member of the Group of Seven, although the Group was not officially founded until after Thomson's death. Nevertheless, his paintings are representative of the Group's style.