Espace Riopelle opens at Quebec City’s fine arts museum

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec has opened the Espace Riopelle, an $84-million, three-storey pavilion on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City that holds about 130 paintings, sculptures and works on paper by Jean Paul Riopelle, and the public can visit during grand-opening events running until Sunday, Oct. 25.

Grand-opening admission requires a reservation and costs $10 for members, from $28 for regular admission and nothing for visitors 17 and under, according to the museum’s program. Guided tours of the new pavilion start Oct. 27.

The building, officially called the Espace Riopelle, Pavillon Michael Audain, was inaugurated on Wednesday, Oct. 21. It is the museum’s fourth pavilion and the largest museum space in the country devoted entirely to one artist, Radio-Canada reported. It was designed by the firm FABG.

Alongside the Riopelle works are about 100 pieces by other artists who shaped modern art in Quebec. The museum’s four opening exhibitions include Riopelle. L’expression du geste, a permanent show covering more than 50 years of his work, and Revendiquer, a new presentation of the national collection that features automatiste painters such as Paul-Émile Borduas, Marcelle Ferron and Jean-Paul Mousseau beside a copy of the 1948 Refus global manifesto.

“Riopelle speaks to us, Quebecers. He speaks about us, he speaks about our environment,” museum director general Jean-Luc Murray said (translated from French).

The visit ends on the third floor with L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, Riopelle’s monumental final work, more than 40 metres long and shown in a half-circle. To protect it in the bright room, the museum uses UV-filtering glass and automatic blinds that stay down until late morning, CBC News reported.

“It’s the first time you can see all the panels at a single glance,” said Bernard Lamarche, the museum’s curator of current and contemporary art (translated from French).

Many of the works come from gifts by Pierre Lassonde and Michael Audain. Lassonde’s donation is valued at $56.5 million, Radio-Canada reported. “Seeing them leave was bittersweet, because it’s a part of me that’s leaving,” Lassonde said (translated from French), adding that sharing them with the public is the height of philanthropy.

Riopelle (1923-2002) rose to fame in Paris after the Second World War and spent his final years on L’Isle-aux-Grues. More Quebec City news is on our Quebec City page, and our Quebec page covers the province, including the new Parti Québécois cabinet.

If you find reporting like this useful, consider supporting Canada News Media, an independent Canadian newsroom with no corporate parent.