The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto will be displaying At the Crease, the iconic work by Canadian painter Ken Danby, in homage to the late artist.

A private collector and friend of Danby has loaned At the Crease to the gallery, the AGO said in statement Thursday.

At the Crease, by the late painter Ken Danby, is possibly his best-known canvas.
(Ken Danby Studios)

It will be displayed at the AGO until Oct. 7.

Danby's 1972 painting of a masked hockey goalie hunched in the crease like a warrior is sometimes mistakenly thought to be a portrait of legendary Montreal Canadiens netminder Ken Dryden.

On his website, Danby recalled trying to correct this misconception about At the Crease.

"One day, a woman complimented me on my painting At the Crease, which she referred to as 'That painting you did of the goalie, Ken Dryden,' " he wrote.

"She said that she had long had a print of it in her home and really enjoyed it. I thanked her, but also explained that, 'It isn't an image of Ken Dryden.' Looking puzzled, she replied, 'Yes it is.' I responded, 'No it isn't.' After a long pause, she loudly exclaimed, 'Yes it is!' I quickly apologized, with the sudden realization that she was right. It's really whomever one wants it to be."

Danby, a realist painter who created hockey images such as Lacing Up, as well as a wide range of portraits and landscapes, died Sunday while canoeing in Ontario's Algonquin Park. He was 67.

An avid hiker, canoeist and hockey player, Danby was canoeing on North Tea Lake with friends when he collapsed.

Danby "painted the great Canadian icons and scenes from our daily lives — the
epic to the everyday," said Matthew Teitelbaum, AGO director and chief executive.

"He created personal connections to the Canadian landscape. Ken was among Canada's great storytellers."

The AGO will close Oct. 8 to complete its extensive renovation, designed by Toronto-born architect Frank Gehry.

The date of reopening has not yet been set, but it is estimated to be mid to late 2008.

With files from the Canadian Press