THE FLOOD GATE

Homer Watson’s best-known and most critically praised painting is The Flood Gate, which returns to his favourite theme of rural life. The viewer first notices the painting’s dark sky and the trees that are almost being pulled from the ground by the wind. A struggle is taking place in the foreground as a man tries in desperation to open the floodgates during a gathering storm.

In the years after its completion in 1900, Watson turned down many offers for the work, which had been publicly praised by future Group of Seven members A.Y. Jackson and Arthur Lismer. In 1925, almost deaf, with declining health, and facing poor sales of his work, Watson finally decided it was time to sell his masterpiece. He contacted Eric Brown, director of the National Gallery in Ottawa, who offered just $2,500, rather than the $5,000 Watson had requested. After long negotiations he finally received $3,000. Watson believed the sale was only temporary, but he was never able to buy back the painting. The Flood Gate remains at the National Gallery in Ottawa.

–– Nichole Martin