An Ontario couple who bought a landscape painting for just C$200 at a rural yard sale in 2001 had no idea they had purchased an artwork by renowned Canadian artist E J Hughes. Six years later, the painting, Lake Okanagan, was identified as an authentic E J Hughes painting and sold at auction for C$402,500.
The remarkable Ontario yard sale find is now one of the most striking examples of the rising value of E J Hughes artwork. The British Columbia artist is known for his highly detailed Canadian landscape paintings, many of which have become valuable collectors’ pieces. Paintings by E J Hughes that once sold for hundreds of Canadian dollars can now sell for hundreds of thousands and, in some cases, millions.
Hughes’ extraordinary career has also being explored in a new documentary, The Painted Life of E J Hughes, by Coquitlam filmmaker Jenn Strom. The documentary looks at the life of the Canadian landscape artist, his connection to British Columbia, his years as a Canadian war artist and his famously quiet personality.
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E J Hughes painting bought for C$200 at Ontario yard sale
The story of Lake Okanagan demonstrates how an apparently ordinary yard sale painting can turn out to be a valuable piece of Canadian art. The Ontario couple paid only C$200 for the landscape painting in 2001. At the time, they did not know that the painting was created by E J Hughes, whose British Columbia landscapes would eventually become highly sought-after in the Canadian art market.
Six years after the C$200 painting purchase, Lake Okanagan was identified as an E J Hughes artwork. It was subsequently sold at auction for C$402,500, turning the inexpensive Ontario yard sale find into a remarkable Canadian art discovery.
The E J Hughes painting is part of a wider increase in the value of the artist’s work. According to BC BookLook, Rivers Inlet sold for $920,000 in 2005, at the time setting a record for a work by a living Canadian artist. His E J Hughes artwork Fishboats, River Inlet later sold for $2 million at Heffel Auction.
In November 2025, Hughes’ 1949 British Columbia landscape painting Entrance to Howe Sound sold for $4.8 million. The sale further demonstrated the extraordinary prices that E J Hughes paintings can command at auction.
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Canadian war artist E J Hughes documented military life
Edward John Hughes was born in North Vancouver on February 17, 1913, and grew up in Nanaimo and North Vancouver. Before becoming known for his British Columbia landscape paintings, Hughes worked on fishing boats during the Depression and studied at the Vancouver School of Decorative and Applied Art.
One of his teachers was Frederick Varley, a member of Canada’s famous Group of Seven. Hughes later co-founded a commercial art company with muralists Paul Goranson and Orville Fisher in 1934.
When the Second World War began, Hughes enlisted with the Royal Canadian Artillery in 1939 and was posted to England. From 1943 to 1946, he worked as one of Canada’s official war artists.
