The Canadian painter Maurice Galbraith Cullen (1866-1934) was a pioneer of impressionism in Canadian art and is particularly noted for his winter landscapes.

Maurice Cullen was born at St. John's, Newfoundland, and brought up in Montreal. He began his training as a sculptor under Philippe Hébert, and with a legacy from his mother he went to Paris in 1887 for further study at the École des Beaux-Arts. Once he saw the works of Claude Monet, however, he turned to painting and for the next few years sought out the favorite haunts of the French impressionists: Moret, Giverny, and Brittany. He exhibited at the Salon and was elected a member of the Société Nationale des Beaux-Arts.

With an established European reputation, Cullen returned to Montreal in 1895 and began to paint the winter landscapes along the St. Lawrence River in the vicinity of Quebec City...