Was it Murder? The Fate of Iconic Canadian Artist Tom Thomson

Thomson’s death was ruled an accident by a coroner who never even saw the body. It was believed his canoe had struck a deadhead (submerged log), throwing him overboard. Some thought his death was suicide, but he loved his work, was becoming a successful artist and reportedly had just become engaged.

Questions arose. How did he get the 10-centimeter bruise on his temple? Why was there blood in one ear, and why was air coming from his lungs if he had drowned? If he was murdered, who did it?

To this day, theories abound. People have suggested that German spies, poachers or a rival for his girlfriend could have killed him. Perhaps his favourite paddle, which was never found, was a murder weapon.

At different times in 1977, both Ronald Pittaway and journalist Roy MacGregor interviewed Daphne Crombie, who knew Thomson and the others living at Canoe Lake. She told them that her friend, Annie Fraser, told her that her husband Shannon, who owed Thomson money, got in a fight with Thomson during a drinking party and hit him. Thomson fell, hit his head on the fire grate and was knocked unconscious. Shannon Fraser panicked and put Thomson in his canoe, then towed it onto the lake and overturned it.

This contradicts an eyewitness who said he saw Thomson paddle away just after noon on July 17, but the man was a quarter-mile away at the time. Was it Thomson he saw, or Fraser?

Several years ago, researcher Peter Webb visited Canoe Lake to search for answers. He found the lake riddled with deadheads and hidden rocks. He concluded Thomson’s death was accidental.

“Thomson had set out to fish on the day he died,” Webb said. “Suppose his line snagged on the log-riddled bottom of the lake and he stood up in his canoe to free it. I have seen many fishermen do a similarly foolish thing. In such an instance, the canoe might have tipped him onto a rock or deadhead, or onto its own gunwale.”

Alternatively, he said, “The force of hitting a deadhead ... could easily have overturned his canoe, and a rock or a second deadhead could have knocked him unconscious, whereupon he'd have drowned.”

Perhaps the initial investigators were right, and Thomson’s death was accidental. He could have died of a severe head injury acquired when he fell from his canoe. But doubt remains.

The truth may never be known, but Tom Thomson remains one of the most fascinating and talented artists Canada has ever produced.

Nearly a century after his death, despite a very short artistic career, Tom Thomson remains one of Canada's best-known artists. Some of his most famous paintings include The Jack Pine, Aspen Leaves and The West Wind. Many of his paintings can be seen at major art galleries, in particular he Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto, the McMichael Canadian Art Collection in Kleinburg, Ontario, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa. Prints of his work are readily available for purchase.

There is a memorial cairn on Canoe Lake at the spot where he died, and a commemorative heritage plaque is on display in Leith, Ontario, where he grew up.

Thomson's art inspired the work of many artists who came after him, including Emily Carr, Harold Town, Dennis Lukas and Joyce Wieland, and it continues to inspire Canadian artists today.

There have been many books written about Tom Thomson. If you would like to delve deeper into the Tom Thomson story and the mysteries surrounding his death, here are some books, articles and other media you might find interesting.

• Death on a Painted Lake: The Tom Thomson Tragedy.

• The Tom Thomson Art Gallery, Owen Sound, Ontario (photos, biography and more).

• Tom Thomson: The Life and Mysterious Death of the Famous Canadian Painter by Jim Poling. Altitude Publishing, Canmore, Alberta, 2003.

• Tom Thomson by Dennis Reid
• Northern Light: The Enduring Mystery of Tom Thomson and the Woman Who Loved Him by Roy MacGregor
• The Mysterious Death of Tom Thomson by George A. Walker
• Tom Thomson: The Silence and the Storm by Harold Town