Vernissage at Glen site celebrates prestigious art collection

If you’ve wandered around the Glen these last couple of weeks, you may have noticed that art from our legacy hospitals has begun popping up around the site, brightening our walls and making us feel a little more at home. Additionally, several of the window display cases have been filled with photographical archives and cultural artifacts that tell the history of our legacy hospitals in this brand-new facility.

In celebration of this, and to officially inaugurate the Glen site Public Art collection, a vernissage was held yesterday evening in the Research Atrium. With over 300 guests in attendance, including art critics, representatives from the City of Montreal and other art aficionados, everyone enjoyed a guided tour of the works and the chance to mingle with the artists themselves. This was also the occasion to officially announce several exciting changes at the MUHC’s Art and Heritage Centre (now called the RBC Arts and Heritage Centre), including the announcement of RBC becoming the official sponsor of the centre. 

The Glen site is now home to a prestigious collection of public art for patients, visitors, healthcare workers and the public to enjoy. While contributing to the healing environment at the new site, these pieces will also serve to showcase the outstanding talents of the local Quebecois and Canadian artists who designed them. Together, these pieces add to the unique collection comprised of thousands of artworks and artefacts that will continue to be hung on display at the Glen, including historical medical equipment and art works donated to the MUHC founding hospitals over the past 120 years. 

According to the Quebec Ministry of Culture, the addition of these 11 works makes the MUHC public art collection one of the largest in the province’s history. This initiative was made possible thanks to their Politique d'intégration des arts à l'architecture et à l'environnement des bâtiments et des sites gouvernementaux et publics program, which requires public construction projects to reserve approximately 1% of their budget for the integration of public art.

Earlier that day, before the Glen site vernissage, was the official launch of the City of Montreal’s new Public Art website – a reperatoire of all public artworks around the city that allows users to plan their own routes and visit these pieces. In fact, the MUHC Glen site public art collection is being highlighted as the October featured collection! Visit their site at artpublicmontreal.ca to find out more, or visit muhc.ca/muhc-heritage/Glenpublicart, where visitors can learn more about each piece and the artist who designed it. 

About the RBC Art and Heritage Centre

The RBC Art and Heritage Centre recognizes the significant social, artistic, medical and nursing histories of the MUHC hospitals since 1821 in the development of Montreal, and seeks to preserve and highlight existing artefacts and other visual objects from this rich heritage in dedicated exhibition spaces as an integral part of the leading edge healing environment designed for patients, their families and staff at the MUHC.