The Montreal Museum of Fine arts was first founded in 1860 as the Art Association of Montreal. It is the oldest art museum in Canada. However, it didn’t have its own building until a site was donated to them in 1879. The museum was at its current site since 1912 and has been expanded several times, the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion was designed by Moshe Safdie, who also designed Habitat 67 in the early years of his career.
There was one painting displayed along other Old Master works attributed to being after Peter Paul Rubens, but the museum doesn’t have any actual works by him. For this reason, I’ll always enjoy the National Gallery of Art and the Ontario Art Gallery more than the one in Montreal. The museum suffered two thefts in the last half-century, one of which in 1972 was the largest-valued art robbery in Canadian history. A total value of $2 million of art were stolen from the museum, including a Rembrandt painting.
Exhibitions change about every six months, and may or may not interest you depending on what you like. In terms of permanent exhibitions, the gallery on the Group of Seven, Tom Thompson, and Emily Carr is a must-see and should take up a good portion of the visit. These Canadian icons were inspired to use art to connect with nature and light colours to reflect the untouched Canadian wilderness.
