Helen Galloway McNicoll
Midsummer
circa 1909
oil on canvas
61.8 x 72.2 cm
Art Gallery of Nova Scotia
Acquisition, 1925

Midsummer illustrates Helen Galloway McNicoll’s preoccupation with the effects of sunlight. McNicoll was influenced by the Impressionists and utilized the high-keyed colour and strong brushwork of this movement. After her initial studies under William Brymner in Montréal, McNicoll travelled to Europe where she attended the Slade School of Art in London, and St. Ives in Cornwall. Midsummer was painted while the artist was in Brittany. This painting, like many of McNicoll’s works, includes the figure, depicted here at work in the fields.