Portrait Gallery of Canada, National art museum in Ottawa, Canada

The Portrait Gallery of Canada is a digital platform dedicated to collecting and presenting historical and contemporary Canadian portrait artworks. The collection spans different time periods and styles, documenting the nation's history and diversity through portraiture as an art form.

Library and Archives Canada, founded in 1872 as the Dominion Archives, began adding portraits to its holdings in 1904 under archivist Arthur George Doughty. Painter John Wycliffe Lowes Forster left fifteen portraits and $10,000 for a national gallery at his death in 1938; the corporation registered in 1939 was never realized and the bequest went to the Royal Ontario Museum in 1956. In 2001 the government named the former U.S. embassy at 100 Wellington Street in Ottawa as the gallery's site, but work stopped in 2006 and all plans were cancelled in 2009.

The collection showcases works by Canadian artists whose portraits help shape how the country sees itself. You can explore exhibitions like those featuring Raymonde April and Letitia Fraser to understand how artists capture people and moments.

The entire collection is freely accessible through the website portraitcanada.ca, which launched its online presence in 2020. You can explore the artworks from home or anywhere with an internet connection.

The gallery's name has a long institutional history: the Corporation of the National Portrait Gallery was registered in 1939 after artist John Wycliffe Lowes Forster left fifteen portraits and $10,000 for a national gallery, but the project was never realized and the bequest went to the Royal Ontario Museum in 1956.