Update May 2: After nine days on the market, the Colville cottage sold for $265,000. The unknown buyer paid $15,100 above asking according to the property listing. For obvious reasons we changed the original headline and subhead of this story from “Famed painter Alex Colville’s Nova Scotian cottage is for sale: Buy a piece of Canadian art history—and 200 feet of oceanfront land.”
The view from the front door is one of sand, sea and sky: The sort of thing you wish you could look at every day, that could wallpaper the inside of your eyelids.
If you happen to think that it’s the fodder for an incredible painting, you’re not the only one. This scene—from the main room of a newly for sale cottage located at 104 Colville Lane, Northport—probably inspired the tone of one of the most famous, notable artworks in Canadian history: Alex Colville’s “To Prince Edward Island.” (The colours and the light that imbue the canvas feel almost plucked from this view and put onto a paint palette.)
The creator of Maritime Realism (one of the country’s biggest artistic movements), Colville built the cabin himself in the 1960s—and now, bids are open on the rural hideaway. For a cool $249,900, you could own the postal code of modern Canadian art history, along with 200 feet of oceanfront land on the Northumberland Strait, a long two-hour drive north of Halifax.
Indulge in a bit of summer dreaming by looking at more photos of the realtor’s listing:
This article appears in Apr 1-30, 2021.
