Although he was not an official member, Tom Thomson is inextricably linked to the Group of Seven. These artists shared in common an appreciation for rugged, unkempt natural scenery and the use of broad, expressive brushstrokes to capture the stark beauty of the Canadian landscape.

Born in Claremont, Ontario in 1877, Thomson studied at the Chatham Commercial School from 1899 to 1901, and traveled to Seattle to study photoengraving from 1901 to 1904. He was otherwise a self-taught artist, and around 1912 began to produce work that broke with conventional landscape styles in their realistic depictions of nature that were almost abstract in their vivid colour and manipulation of texture.

Residing in Toronto at the time, Thomson associated with and was influenced by the work of J.E.H. Macdonald, Arthur Lismer, A.Y. Jackson, Fred Varley and Franklin Carmichael. He made frequent sketching trips to Algonquin Park, later using these sketches as models for canvases that he produced while living in Toronto during the winter.

He exhibited with the RCA in 1914 and 1916, and was best known for his small-scale landscapes mostly done in oil.

Unexpectedly and only three years prior to the official forming of the Group of Seven, his artistic career came to an end in July of 1917 when he mysteriously drowned at Canoe Lake.

Long after his death, the work of Tom Thomson left a lasting and significant impression on the Group.