In addition to playing a key role in the development of Impressionism in Canada, Brymner taught numerous artists who became leading figures in Canadian modern art.

[2] Following architectural studies, Brymner enrolled at the Académie Julian in Paris, France, in 1878, where his instructors were William-Adolphe Bouguereau and Tony Robert-Fleury.

It was there that Brymner completed his major works A Wreath of Flowers (1884), which later served as his diploma submission for the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, and The Lonely Orphans Taken to Her Heart (1884).

"[3] That year, he travelled to Western Canada via the newly completed Canadian Pacific Railway, hoping to take advantage of the fact that the CPR was commissioning landscapes of the Rocky Mountains.

[1] Upon his return from Western Canada, Brymner began teaching at the Art Association of Montreal, where he would remain for thirty years.