Drowned Land is a 1912 oil sketch by the 20th-century Canadian painter Tom Thomson. The work was painted in the fall of 1912, possibly on the Mississagi River. It depicts an area desolate and damaged due to flooding via damming. It was purchased by the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto in 1937 and has remained in the collection ever since. It was produced near the beginning of Thomson's short art career, just as he was beginning a transition from commercial art into full-time painting. Background In 1912 after Thomson's initial experience of visiting Algonquin Park, he and his colleague William Broadhead went on a two-month expedition up the Spanish River and into Mississagi Forest Reserve (today Mississagi Provincial Park). Representative of typical Canadian attitudes towards the environment at that time, an article in the Owen Sound Sun reporting on Thomson's visit to the forest reserve wrote that "technology gave value to the landscape" and placed emphasis on the mineral, forest, water-power, and fish and game resources rather than on any scenic beauty the land possessed. Thomson's transition from commercial art towards his original style of painting began to be apparent around this time. Much of his artwork from this trip, mainly oil sketches and photographs, has been lost due to two canoe spills experienced during the trip, the first spill being on Green Lake in a rain squall and the second in a series of rapids. In a letter to his friend M. J. (John) McRuer, Thomson wrote: Analysis Thomson's art director while at Grip Ltd., Albert Robson, identified Drowned Land as being painted on the Mississagi Forest Reserve canoe trip. Art historian David Silcox has suggested that it was perhaps painted on Lake Scugog or near Owen Sound. It was painted with oil on paper, which was further embossed with canvas texture, all mounted on plywood. A similar support was used for View Over a Lake: Shore with Houses. The painting came right as Thomson was transitioning from commercial art into fine art and indicates his innate talent. It is similar to a sketch from the previous year, Near Owen Sound, in terms of colour, drawing and texture. On display is a "camera-like precision" and his incredible attention to detail in capturing scenes. Indeed, David Silcox has speculated that Drowned Land as well as other paintings may have been completed with a photograph as a memory aid given