“Who can say what
a Canadian is?”

Robert Tombs  |  President, Royal Canadian Academy of Arts

Personae: Indigenous and Canadian Portraits 1861–2020

To coincide with the launch of its new website, which took place on July 30, 2020, the Portrait Gallery of Canada presented Personae: Indigenous and Canadian Portraits 1861–2020, its first online exhibition. 

We selected these works based on their artistic merit and after careful consideration of the many factors that come into play when exploring the Canadian identity, such as age, gender, ethnicity, geography, and social status. 

We thank advisory board member Robert Tombs for curating this exhibition and the artists and organizations who generously agreed to participate. Read the curator’s essay here.

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