Tom Thomson and his painting The Jack Pine are kinda like E-40 and his song Tell Me When To Go. Don’t worry, I’ll explain.

This medium-sized oil on canvas painting was created between 1916 and 1917, shortly before Thomson’s strange and untimely death in Ontario Canada’s Algonquin Park. While you may not have heard of it before, it’s basically Canada’s Mona Lisa. It’s not a painting of a woman with a smirk by a famous Italian artist during one of the world’s biggest artistic movements, but it is a painting considered to be one of Canada’s most celebrated works of art painted by one of their own artistic giants in the midst of a creative movement in their region.

The Jack Pine has a sister painting named The West Wind that invokes similar moods and themes as they were created around the same time and they’re both inspired by the same place. They both started off as sketches and wound up as full-fledged paintings a year later. My guy Thomson really liked nature, as any reasonable human being would. But unlike those who just want to go camping and eat beans out of a can, Thomson was inspired by the nature around him. It was this inspiration that would change the trajectory of his legacy and Canada’s artistic integrity in one fell swoop.

The reason The Jack Pine is regarded so highly is that it embodies the spirit of Canada with its unfiltered look and appreciation of the northern wilderness. Its colors represent a certain time that resonates with the audience. The blend of turquoise and yellow in the sky conveys a gorgeous sunset, while the scattered white in the surrounding mountains indicates the melting of snow, an early sign of spring. These are universal images that we can all relate to in some way or another. But this particular location, being in Ontario’s Algonquin Park, is one to which many people from that area bring a personal connection, and with Thomson’s unique skill, this painting put Canada’s beautiful scenery on the map for the rest of the world. It’s just how the rapper E-40 burst into mainstream rap with his hit Tell Me When To Go back in 2006. E-40, just like Thomson, became synonymous with his region-specific work of art, and his new status opened up the doors for many to follow in his footsteps. My comparison is obviously perfect and there are absolutely no holes in my analysis.

I’ll take it a step further to prove my point. In a way, Thomson and his style of painting sparked the formation of an influential artist group in Canada known as the Group of Seven. The original group, which includes painters J.E.H. MacDonald, Lawren S. Harris, Arthur Lismer, F.H. Varley, Franklin Carmichael, Frank H. Johnston, and A.Y. Jackson, all became famous for their works in the 20s and 30s that focused heavily on landscape painting, especially from the northern Ontario area. It was through their work that a national style was attributed. But that whole thing was predicated by Tom Thomson, The Jack Pine, and his other works in the same vein. While Thomson died in 1917, years before the Group of Seven would really gain recognition, he is always mentioned with them as if he was a founding member. His work was just that foundational.