Emily Carr House is a museum and a cultural center that celebrates the life and work of Emily Carr (1871-1945), a famous Canadian painter and writer.
Carr’s passion for art started at a young age, but only after her parents passed away, at 19, did she start studying art professionally. First in San Francisco, then London, and a few years later in Paris. She traveled across Canada for sketching and painting trips to Aboriginal villages, getting inspired by their culture and tradition, painting the indigenous artifacts and the wild nature of Canada. Still, even though she traveled around Canada, her home base was always Victoria, in a house close to her childhood home, which she called House of All Sorts.
Over the years, recognition of her work grew, and she exhibited in the US and Europe. After several heart attacks and a severe stroke in her mid-sixties, she stopped painting and focused on writing. She passed away on March 2nd, 1945.
The Carr house was built in 1863 by Emily’s father, in the center of 19th-century Victoria. Emily was born and grew up there with her nine siblings. The house was extensively restored to the 1860s, the years that Carr lived there with her family during her uprising. Although the furniture is not original, a visit to the house will give the experience of English life in Victoria during that period and feature Carr’s writings from her books – The Book of Small and The House of All Sorts.
On display are original artifacts like the family bible, her belongings, and art.
The museum hosts special events like art and gardening workshops, rotating exhibits, and guided tours of the house and its surroundings.
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