OTTAWA.- Until March 22, 2026, the National Gallery of Canada (NGC) presents Winter Count: Embracing the Cold, its first exhibition of Indigenous, Canadian settler and European art. It brings together perspectives on winter’s impact across diverse cultures and artistic expressions. The exhibition features 164 works, of which 48 are drawn from the Gallery’s collection, including recent acquisitions, some of which have never been shown.

The exhibition includes clothing, paintings, sculptures, textiles and works on paper by 102 artists from the early 19th century to the present day. These include Kenojuak Ashevak, Clarence Gagnon, Lawren S. Harris, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro, Jin-me Yoon and Kent Monkman.   

“From time immemorial, communities across these lands have faced the challenge of winter with determination and creativity. Winter Count invites us to explore these shared experiences,” said Jean-François Bélisle, Director and CEO of the National Gallery of Canada. “We are thrilled to present this major exhibition, the first collaborative project between our curatorial teams of Canadian art, European art, and Indigenous Ways and Decolonization.”

“Power Corporation of Canada is proud to collaborate with the National Gallery of Canada on Winter Count: Embracing the Cold, a vibrant, exciting and emotionally impactful exhibition that illuminates a key dimension of the Canadian experience and identity: winter,” said Paul C. Genest, Senior Vice-President at Power Corporation of Canada. “This exhibition enriches our understanding about winter by presenting a dynamic dialogue amongst Canadian, European and Indigenous artists of the very first rank. The works are simply stunning.”

Winter Count: Embracing the Cold is curated by Katerina Atanassova, Senior Curator, Canadian Art; Wahsontiio Cross, Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization; Anabelle Kienle Ponka, Ph.D., Senior Curator, European, American, and Asian Art; and Jocelyn Piirainen, Associate Curator, Indigenous Ways and Decolonization, at the National Gallery of Canada.  

The exhibition encompasses North America, Europe and the circumpolar regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Greenland, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. It delves into concepts of tradition, identity and heritage in multiple ways:  

Historic Indigenous belongings are juxtaposed with works by contemporary Indigenous artists like Inuit printmaker Pitseolak Ashoona and Cree artists Duane Linklater and Kent Monkman, highlighting ancestral knowledge, storytelling and contemporary critique.

Exploring connections between foremost Canadian painters who went abroad such as Maurice Cullen, M.A. de Foy Suzor-Côté, and J.W. Morrice and French Impressionists Claude Monet and Camille Pissarro, it focuses on their diverse approaches to capturing the effects of snow. 

It highlights a shared visual language among Canadian artists like J.E.H. MacDonald and Lawren S. Harris and their Scandinavian counterparts who inspired them.  

The exhibition’s title, Winter Count, refers to the tradition of the Indigenous nations from the Plains like the Lakota of visually recording the most significant event of each year onto a buffalo hide or a cloth. Over time, the winter count served as a record of survival and as a means of storytelling, preserving memories and ensuring cultural continuity—values that resonate throughout this exhibition.