Nearly 700 artworks from the Government of Ontario Art Collection are displayed throughout Ontario’s historic Legislative Building. Together, they form Canada’s first publicly funded art collection and include historical and contemporary paintings, works on paper, sculptures, and official portraits.
The collection began in 1852 when artworks and reproductions were purchased in Italy, France, and the Netherlands for the Upper Canada Normal School. These pieces were meant to help students and teachers study European art. Initially a training facility for elementary school teachers, the Normal School later housed the Museum of Natural History and Fine Arts – the first publicly-funded museum in Canada. Paintings, sculptures, and artifacts in this museum were purchased in Rome, Florence, Paris, and the Netherlands to provide examples of European art to students and educators in Ontario.Several of these works were copies of masterworks created by skilled and professional copyists, and some are on display in the East Wing on the third floor of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
In the 1870s, the government began buying Canadian artworks, including pieces from the Ontario Society of Artists’ exhibitions. This continued until 1914, when the government abandoned its acquisition policy.
The collection was revived in 1977, when the Government of Ontario Art Collection was formally established. Since then, it has continued to grow through donations and new acquisitions, reflecting the cultural and geographic diversity of Ontario.