Born in Victoria, British Columbia in 1871. She first studied art in San Francisco, California and then in Europe, in London and Paris.

In 1927, the National Gallery of Canada organized a large exhibition of Canadian West Coast art and included 26 of Carr’s works. In Ottawa, she met members of the Group of Seven and was greatly inspired by them, particularly Arthur Lismer and Lawren Harris. Following the exhibition, Carr returned to Victoria and resumed painting with a new energy. She concentrated almost completely on the British Columbia costal shorelines and forests.

Emily Carr was a remarkable West Coast painter and is, perhaps, Canada’s best known woman artist.

In May 2002 Emily Carr’s painting War Canoes (Alert Bay) 1912 sold for $1,018,750. at Heffel’s Fine Art Auction establishing the highest price of a Carr work in auction and the highest price for a Canadian woman artist.