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Get matched →The Robert McLaughlin Gallery is located on the treaty lands of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation. The original gallery was built in 1969 as a modernist structure with 6,000 square feet of exhibition space. In 1987, architect Arthur Erickson designed a $5.4 million expansion adding 36,000 square feet, featuring natural light, skylights, and 35-foot ceilings.
Founded in 1967 by designer William Caldwell, the gallery was formally established with support from Ewart and Margaret McLaughlin. The gallery is named after Robert, founder of The McLaughlin Carriage Company and grandfather of Ewart. Isabel McLaughlin, a modernist painter and cousin of Ewart, became a lifelong patron and donated over 100 works of Canadian and international art.
The RMG holds Canada's largest collection of works by Painters Eleven. The group was formed in 1954 after a 1952 exhibition at Adelaide House in Oshawa showcased abstract Canadian art—the first exhibition of abstract painting assembled in Canada by Canadian artists on a national scale. Founding members included Jack Bush, Oscar Cahén, Tom Hodgson, Alexandra Luke, Ray Mead, Kazuo Nakamura, William Ronald, Jock Macdonald, Harold Town, Walter Yarwood, and Hortense Gordon. The gallery regularly exhibits Painters Eleven works and remains committed to expanding this collection.
Born in Oshawa, Isabel McLaughlin was the third daughter of Colonel Robert Samuel McLaughlin, president of General Motors of Canada. She studied in Paris and Toronto under artists including Arthur Lismer and was influenced by the Group of Seven. In 1933, she became a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and served as president from 1937 to 1944. Considered one of Canada's most important modernist painters, she made substantial donations of artwork, papers, and books to the gallery and other institutions. She received the Order of Canada and Order of Ontario.
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