Dream & Drift in Winter — James Wilson Morrice | Quebec & Paris Scenes

Описание: There is a particular hush that settles over the world after snowfall.

Canadian artist James Wilson Morrice (1865–1924) followed that hush home each winter, leaving Paris behind to paint the frozen streets, skies, and rivers of Montreal and Quebec.

Even though Morrice chose Paris as his permanent home, winter often drew him back across the Atlantic. Until 1914, he spent Christmas in Montreal visiting his parents, then traveled through Quebec with a sketchbook in hand. He painted outdoors in temperatures so severe they stiffened his brushes and froze his colours. “30 below zero. Difficult to work outdoors—paint gets stiff,” he noted, hastily capturing impressions that would later become luminous winter paintings.

In this Dream and Drift journey, Quebec City, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré, and the frozen St. Lawrence River unfold in quiet succession. Ice bridges stretch across dark water, ferries push through slush, and snowbound farms rest beneath heavy skies. Horses pull sleighs along worn paths, their runners scratching snow already marked by time and footsteps. Beyond Quebec, Morrice also painted winter scenes of Paris, capturing the city’s quiet embankments and frost-tinged rooftops, a subtle contrast to the Canadian winter landscapes. Against these scenes, Paris feels distant — almost indifferent — in winter.

Snow is the true protagonist in Morrice’s winter works. Untouched and radiant, it glows white and blue, flushed with rose light so bright it almost aches to behold. Elsewhere it settles into softer tones — yellowed, bruised, trampled — bearing the traces of daily life. Above it all, the sky shifts endlessly: frosty blue mornings dissolve into pink sunsets, lilac twilight deepens into ultramarine night, and silvery clouds gather under the promise of falling snow.

Everything moves quietly. Sleighs drift forward, figures push through snowdrifts, dark water slides toward the sea. Shadows stretch and curl across the land. And the first slow snowflakes descend — tentative, unhurried — as if testing the silence before winter fully takes hold.
Explore the luminous winter landscapes of James Wilson Morrice, from Quebec to Paris, in this cinematic journey.
#JamesWilsonMorrice #CanadianArt #WinterLandscapes #DreamAndDrift #snowscenes

This video accompanies the biographical film on James Wilson Morrice    • Enchanted by Venice: Canadian Painter Jame...  

EFFET DE NEIGE, MONTREAL, 1906. Power Corporation of Canada Collection.
SNOW EFFECTS (QUÉBEC), 1905–1906. Art Gallery of Ontario
STREET IN MONTREAL, WINTER, 1906. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
SUGAR BUSH, ca. 1897–1898. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
EARLY SNOW ON THE QUAI DES GRANDS-AUGUSTINS, ca. 1901. Art Gallery of Ontario
STREET IN QUEBEC, 1906. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
THE FERRY, QUEBEC, 1907. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
THE BARBER SHOP, MONTREAL,1906. Private Collection
THE OLD HOLTON HOUSE, MONTREAL, 1908–1909. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
FIN DE JOURNEE, BEAUPRÉ, 1897. Private Collection
WINTER STREET SCENE, MONTREAL,1909–1915. Private Collection
EFFET DE NEIGE (SLEIGH),1906. Musée Des Beaux-Arts De Lyon
WINTER, MONTREAL (THE PINK HOUSE),1905–1907. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
SANTE-ANNE-DE-BEAUPRÉ, 1897. Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
ENTRANCE TO A QUEBEC VILLAGE IN WINTER,1897. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
THE WOODPILE, SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BEAUPRÉ, ca. 1900. Private Collection
VIEW TOWARDS LEVIS FROM QUEBEC, 1909. Private Collection
QUAI DES GRANDS-AUGUSTINS, PARIS, ca. 1904. National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
L'HIVER À PARIS, ca. 1895. The Musée National Des Beaux-Arts Du Québec
MOUNTAIN HILL, QUEBEC, 1906. Art Gallery of Ontario
NEIGE, CANADA, ca. 1905. Private Collection
LANDSCAPE, SAINTE-ANNE-DE-BEAUPRÉ, ca 1897. Private Collection

Music by Alexander Nakarada from Pixabay (https://www.creatorchords.com)