An exhibition featuring works by some of Canada's most acclaimed artists opened to the public in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.

Our Home and Native Land, now on display at the Canadian Embassy, features 26 works on loan from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection's permanent holdings.

Pic Island, by Lawren Harris, is one of the works on display at the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
(McMichael Fine Art Collection)

Artworks by Tom Thomson, Lawren Harris and other members of the Group of Seven, Emily Carr, Anne Savage, Jean-Paul Lemieux and aboriginal artists such as Bob Boyer and Paulassie Pootoogook are among the pieces that will remain at the embassy's art gallery for the rest of the year.

"Collectively, the works in this exhibition will provide our American neighbours with a sense of Canada’s national identity, its artistic heritage, its history, and its cultural diversity,” Thomas Smart, executive director and CEO of the McMichael gallery, said in a statement.

"These Canadian cultural icons will be on view in the gallery for us to share with the over 30,000 annual visitors to the embassy," added Michael Wilson, Canada's ambassador to the U.S.

A further 22 works will be displayed in the hall outside Wilson's office at the embassy and another dozen hung in his official residence in the city.

Our Home and Native Land will be on display until January 2008, after which all 60 of the works are scheduled to return to the Kleinburg, Ont., gallery.