Charles Gagnon (1934–2003) was a painter, photographer and filmmaker considered by many to be an important figure in Quebec and Canadian art in the 20th century. His early career emerged alongside the American Abstract Expressionists and his growing multidisciplinary practice broke away from the singularity of painting shared by his Montreal contemporaries of the Automatistes and the Plasticiens. The complexity and depth of his work as a painter, photographer, and filmmaker was distinguished by a probing, introspective quality. His paintings were simultaneously rigid and free-flowing, with self-imposed rules and structure contrasted by rich fracture and gestural brush work. Across all disciplines he played with multiple levels of perception, and many works evoke the liminal space of the threshold, or multi-plane spaces.

Fairs

Art Toronto
Metro Toronto Convention Centre
October 29 - November 1, 2026
Booth 100
Art Toronto

Public Collections

Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Kingston
Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto
Canada Council for the Arts Art Bank, Ottawa
Leonard & Bina Ellen Art Gallery, Montreal
Hirshhorn Museum, Washington
Owens Art Gallery, Sackville
Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography, Ottawa
Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal, Montreal
Musée d’art de Joliette, Joliette
National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa
Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Montreal
Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, Quebec City
Musée Rodin, Paris
Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver
Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff