Beyond the Pedestal: Sculptures in the Collection, from the 1960s to Today

The Museum’s rich collections are divided into six major sections distributed among the five pavilions of the Museum complex, each of which focusses on a particularly strong aspect of the holdings. Today, 158 years after its founding, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is more forward-looking than ever! This institution is not a government-run museum, but relies on generous patrons for the expansion of its encyclopedic heritage collection, which has risen to a historic total of 43,000 works.

The new presentation of the Inuit art collection will open in November 2024! Displayed in brightly lit modernized galleries that double the Museum’s exhibition space dedicated to Inuit art, the presentation brings together an extensive variety of works – prints, drawings, photographs, paintings, sculptures and installations – some of which are recent acquisitions.

In September 2025, the Museum will unveil a new installation of this collection in the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion. Bringing together more than 800 works dating from the Renaissance to today, the reinstallation combines collection highlights, recent acquisitions, and objects never before displayed.

The MMFA’s transformation continues with the fresh redesign of the fourth floor in the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion. As of November 2025, this space will welcome temporary exhibitions dedicated to a reinterpretation of Quebec and Canadian art history with works drawn from the Museum’s collection. There will be a new exhibition every year. The inaugural exhibition, Rising Suns: Art from the Confederacies of the Great Lakes and Rivers, brings together around twenty works by artists from different confederacies, nations, and generations who, through their practices, attest to the Indigenous art histories of recent centuries. These artists include Alanis Obomsawin, Carla Hemlock, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, Greg Staats, and Robert Houle, to name a few.

See marble come to life! Gaze at the Roman emperors Marcus Aurelius, Hadrian and Commodus, and come face-to-face with Hercules, Bacchus and Cupid as you stroll among some of the most famous statues from antiquity. These extraordinarily life-like works originate from the most important private collection of Roman sculptures, assembled in the 19th century by the prince and banker Alessandro Torlonia (1800-1884). Recently shown to great acclaim at the Louvre, in Paris, they will soon be presented to North American audiences for the very first time. Featuring remarkably beautiful bas-reliefs, mythical figures and captivating portraits – such as the celebrated Portrait of a Young Woman – this ensemble of exquisitely carved Roman characters awaits you at the Museum.

Featuring close to 100 portraits of public figures like Chet Baker, Samuel Beckett, Toni Morrison, Truman Capote, Duke Ellington, Patti Smith and Jean Renoir, Immortal is dedicated to one of the 20th century’s most celebrated photographers, focusing on a fascinating and unexpected dimension of his work: aging.

For Keerat Kaur, all creative processes begin with language. The works she presents here highlight the concept of Mithi Boli (Punjabi for “sweet speech”), which is central to Sikh thought: to speak with humility, love and truthfulness, all while resisting harshness.

Starting June 12, the galleries housing the Old European Masters will be bathed in the dream-like music of “Paix la la” (Part I and Part II), an instrumental soundscape by duo feu doux.

This Summer, four leading Montreal cultural institutions—the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, the MEM - Centre des mémoires montréalaises, the Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec and the McCord Stewart Museum—join forces to explore the history and cultural impact of the Montreal Olympic Games as part of the official 50th anniversary celebrations presented with Montréal Olympique.