Mt. Garibaldi has been the subject of extraordinary artists who have lived in British Columbia, such as the Group of Seven painter Frederick Varley who explored and sketched it extensively in 1927 and 1929. The dramatic mountain paintings of W.P. Weston, who also painted Garibaldi, come to mind when viewing this striking depiction of this iconic mountain by Donald Flather. Mt. Garibaldi is a stratovolcano near Squamish, 50 miles north of Vancouver. One of the most well-recognized peaks in the South Coast range, it is the only major Pleistocene epoch volcano in North America to have formed on a glacier. Flather depicts it rising in layers, dwarfing the dock at its base, its forested flanks and glacial fields frosted with snow. The atmosphere is fresh and the palette is bright, as Flather contrasts the snow with cobalt blue ocean and turquoise sky. Mt. Garibaldi’s immensity and concealed power is clearly sensed in this bold painting.

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