Robert Genn’s Stump Lake Near Alkali Lake, BC is a luminous meditation on the British Columbia interior, distilled into the artist’s unmistakable language of clean forms, high-key colour, and rhythmic design. At the centre of the composition, two pale aspens rise with elegant verticality, their trunks catching soft lavender shadows while their crowns shimmer with warm gold. Behind them, a sweep of yellow-leafed aspens forms a glowing horizontal band that unites land, water, and sky. A cool turquoise lake curves gently in the mid-ground, mirroring the crisp autumn light and drawing the eye toward the lilac-toned ridges that dissolve into atmospheric layers.

Genn’s treatment of the Cariboo landscape reflects the clarity and structure that made him one of Canada’s most respected painters of place. Born in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1936, Robert Douglas Genn studied at Victoria College, the University of British Columbia, and the Art Center School in Los Angeles. Throughout his career, he traveled widely to paint the varied terrains of Canada, but the landscapes of British Columbia remained central to his practice. His work is often linked to the legacy of the Group of Seven — a connection strengthened by his 1961 meeting with Lawren Harris, who offered him direct artistic advice that influenced his approach to skies and atmospheric handling.

Beyond his paintings, Genn became an important mentor to artists internationally through The Painter’s Keys, his twice-weekly letter series that explored technique, inspiration, and the inner workings of a creative life. Though he did not hold formal teaching positions, this global community earned him a reputation as one of the most influential artistic voices of his generation. In Stump Lake Near Alkali Lake, the refined brushwork, crystalline light, and subtle tension between bare branches and living foliage embody Genn’s gift for modernizing the Canadian landscape tradition while preserving its essential sense of quiet, contemplative beauty.  This oil on canvas measures 20 x 24, and is signed bottom right.