Famous Artists from Canada

List of the most popular artists from Canada, listed alphabetically with photos when available. For centuries artists have been among the world's most important people, helping chronicle history and keep us entertained with one of the earliest forms of entertainment. Make sure to also check out famous pointillism artists and famous abstract expressionist artists. Whether they're known for painting, sculpting, etching or drawing, the famous Canadian artists on this list have kept that tradition alive by creating renowned pieces of art that have been praised around the world. You can find useful information below about these notable Canadian artists, such as when they were born and where their place of birth was.

List is made up of artists like Paul Couvrette and John Wycliffe Lowes Forster.

This list answers the questions, "Which famous artists are from Canada?" and "Who are the most well-known Canadian artists?"

For further information on these historic Canadian artists, click on their names. If you're a fine art lover use this list of celebrated Canadian artists to discover some new paintings that you will enjoy.

Photo: flickr / CC0
Ranked by
  • Jack Bush
    Woodland Interior, White Flip, Three and Blue Loop
    • Birthplace: Toronto, Canada
    • Associated periods or movements: Color Field, Abstract expressionism, Post-painterly abstraction, Lyrical abstraction
    • Nationality: Canada
    • Art Forms: Painting
    John Hamilton "Jack" Bush (20 March 1909 – 24 January 1977) was a Canadian contemporary, abstract painter. His paintings are associated with the Color Field movement and Post-painterly Abstraction. ...more
  • Philip Guston
    Head, Blue Light, Back View
    • Birthplace: Montreal, Canada
    • Associated periods or movements: Abstract expressionism, Social realism, Neo-expressionism
    • Nationality: Canada, United States of America
    • Art Forms: Painting, Printmaking
    Philip Guston (pronounced like "rust"), born Phillip Goldstein (June 27, 1913 – June 7, 1980), was a painter and printmaker in the New York School, an art movement that included many abstract ...more
  • Peter Pitseolak

    Peter Pitseolak

    Peter Pitseolak was an Inuit photographer, sculptor, artist and historian.
  • Evan Penny (born 1953, in South Africa), currently lives and works in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 1978 Penny graduated from Alberta College of Art and Design and received a post-graduate degree in ...more
  • Jeff Wall
    Tattoos and Shadows, The Flooded Grave
    • Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada
    • Associated periods or movements: Contemporary art
    • Nationality: Canada
    • Art Forms: Photography
    Jeffrey Wall, OC, RSA (born September 29, 1946) is a Canadian artist best known for his large-scale back-lit cibachrome photographs and art history writing. Wall has been a key figure in Vancouver's ...more
  • Kazuo Nakamura
    Autumn, Summer Storm, August Morning
    • Birthplace: Vancouver, Canada
    • Associated periods or movements: Abstract expressionism
    • Nationality: Canada
    • Art Forms: Sculpture, Painting
    Kazuo Nakamura was a Japanese-Canadian painter and sculptor (born Vancouver October 13, 1926; died Toronto April 9, 2002) and a founding member of the Toronto-based Painters Eleven group in the 1950s.