The Navy: A Century in Art
Legacy

The Canadian navy is the product of Canada's people, geography, and wars. A focal point for service, comradeship, and pride for more than a century, the navy remains a potent symbol of Canadian identity and a valued instrument of Canadian statecraft. In the early moments of the navy's second century, these paintings reflect quietly on the legacy of its first.

Olympic with Returned Soldiers
Painted by Arthur Lismer in 1919

This is perhaps Canada's most famous image of the return of its citizens from war.

It shows the SS Olympic, sister ship of the Titanic, in Halifax, bringing Canadian military personnel back from the First World War. The ship, camouflaged for war, discharges its human cargo into a scarred country eager for peace. The city, though devastated by an explosion in 1917, has now partly recovered. Its docks are back in operation, its battered streets crowded with uniformed personnel, the reality of peace just starting to take hold.

Beaverbrook Collection of War Art
CWM 19710261-0343