L'Hotel Montreal.
Wouldn't it be nice to sleep with a Chagall over your hotel bed, rather than the usual generic floral print? Well, you can at L'Hotel Montreal, conveniently located downtown. Home to a remarkable collection of Pop and contemporary art, both in public areas and in the guestrooms and suites, LHotel features works by luminaries including Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Indiana, Chagall, and Botero with a Warhol portrait of the hotel owner in the foyer for starters. The hotel even has a Cultural Curator to help you with your artistic pursuits outside the hotel.
Musée des Beaux-Arts de Montréal (Montral Museum of Fine Arts)
Montreal's Musée des Beaux-Arts has arguably the best collection of Canadian art in the world. You'll find the works of standouts including Paul Kane, the Group of Seven, Paul-Émile Borduas, and Marc-Aurèle Fortin in a new display area added to the rear of neoclassical Erskine and American United Church. The remainder of the Musée's permanent collection, which includes works by luminaries from Rembrandt to Renoir, is displayed in the neoclassical Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion and the dazzling, glass-fronted Jean-Noël-Desmarais Pavilion. The three pavilions are connected by tunnels. The museum also includes the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, which houses Frank Gehry's ornate bentwood furniture, superb 18th-century English porcelain, and former French prime minister Georges Clemenceau's 3,000 Japanese snuff boxes.
Musée d'art contemporain
Montreal's contemporary art museum, the Musée d'art contemporain, is located in the Place des Arts complex at
Jeanne-Mance and Ste-Catherine, and is now part of the growing Quartier des Spectacles neighbourhood. The collection is a vast survey of more than 7,000 works of art by 1,500-plus artists, with the emphasis on art made after 1940 from Quebec in particular and Canada in general, in addition to significant international artists. Among the works, you'll find contemporary paintings, sculptures, photographs, installation, video, and works on paper. This is Canada's only cultural complex dedicated to both contemporary performing and visual arts.
Public Art in Parc Jean Drapeau
From enormous to discreet and thought-provoking to downright peculiar, Montreal has some pretty impressive works of public
art. Parc Jean Drapeau resembles a sculpture garden, with stunning pieces by international artists scattered across the cluster of islands. One of Canada's most celebrated works of public art is Man,Three Discs on the north shore of Ile Sainte-Helene. Revelers at Piknik Elektronik may recognise it as the massive umbrella-like structure that crowds gather under. It is, in fact, Canada's most valuable piece of art, valued at $50 million and created by 20th -century sculpting icon Alexander Calder for Expo '67. A recent addition to the park is Michel de Broinâ's L'Arc. Created to resemble a tree growing up and returning to the ground, it was built in honor of Chilean president Salvador Allende. It's in the Floralies Garden, on Ile Notre-Dame.
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