Homer Watson believed that the greatest message a painting could convey was the mystical relationship between man, nature and the spirit world. Imbued with a strong missionary drive, the artist spent his life attempting to express this connection through his landscapes of rural southern Ontario. Building on numerous letters that indicate the artist’s spiritual artistic intention, this thesis takes a socio-historical approach by examining the North American and European social and artistic contexts that led Watson to embrace the spiritist doctrine and envision his art as an exploration of mystical concerns. It will also analyze his paintings in order to identify how those concerns manifested themselves visually through his choice of subject matter, manipulation of nature’s elements, choice of paint colours, and use of impasto.