Fog on the Barn, 1969

Isaacs Gallery, Toronto Private Collection, Toronto

William Kurelek was the son of Ukrainian immigrant farmers, raised during the challenging times of the Great Depression. He spent his early years on a grain farm in Alberta before moving to a dairy farm in Manitoba. Through his artistic vision, Kurelek brought to life the vibrant scenes of prairie farms and landscapes. In 1959, he caught the attention of Av Isaacs from Isaacs Gallery, who initially hired him as a framer. Kurelek's first exhibition at the gallery took place in 1960, marking the beginning of an 18-year partnership. By the end of the 1960s, he had established himself as one of Canada's prominent artists. "Fog on the Barn" was painted in 1969, during what Patricia Morley describes as Kurelek’s “Dark Prophet” period in her biography of the artist. Kurelek was expanding his plans for a large underground structure meant to withstand a nuclear blast that year as well. Kurelek’s faith, his sense of artist’s intuition and his perspective that society was in moral decline led to fears about the future. This painting portrays a small boy glimpsed through the doorway of a barn. The child has accessed a tin and covered his mitts in the substance contained within. Kurelek leaves the interpretation of the picture open as the title references the fog surrounding the barn, which captivates the young child.