main building was initially named Tapawingo, allegedly meaning place of joy in either Haida or Ojibwe language. The building has log and barn-board walls, and field-stone fireplaces in an effort to recreate the "atmosphere" of Canadian landscape art; in addition to a floor-to-glass ceiling windows that provide a view of the Humber River Valley. The main building includes 14 viewing halls, a gift shop, and a restaurant. The Western Canada Gallery in the main building contains a forty-foot-long cedar bench, and red cedar arches, both of which contains images carved by Doug Cranmer. However, the main building does not contain a large loading dock, preventing the institution from exhibiting large-scale installation artworks in the building. Permanent collection The McMichael Canadian Art Collection is one of the only art museums whose permanent collection contains works exclusively by Canadian artists. The permanent collection originates from the personal collection started by Robert and Signe McMichael in 1955; who later donated it to the province of Ontario in 1965. At the time the McMichaels donated their collection, its contained 187 works. The museum has since expanded this collection to include 6,500 works as of December 2017. The museum's permanent collection is organized into four collection areas, contemporary art, First Nations art, the Group of Seven, and Inuit art. Although the museum's original mandate placed a focus on Canadian landscape art, and the Group of Seven, it has since expanded to include other Canadian artists, including indigenous Canadians. As of 2011, the museum's mandate is to acquire and preserve works for the collection, by artists who have made a contribution to the development of Canadian art, with a focus on the Group of Seven and their contemporaries and on the indigenous Canadians. In addition to artists associated with the Group of Seven, the museum's permanent collection also contains works from Cornelius Krieghoff, David Milne, and Robert Pilot. In November 2014, the museum was bequeathed 50 paintings from artists based in Quebec. French Canadian artists whose works are in the McMichael's permanent collection include Paul-Émile Borduas, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Clarence Gagnon, Rita Letendre, Jean Paul Lemieux, and Jean-Paul Riopelle. The museum's contemporary collection was formally started in 2011, when the museum's mandate was expanded to include contemporary art, although a number of works in the contemporary collection area were acquired by the institution prior to 2011. Canadian artists featured in the contemporary art