MMFA unveils vibrant
2026 summer season

Explore multiple ways to experience the museum: contemplative, active, and musical

June 12, 2026

The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is gearing up for a full and ambitious summer, with one of the richest programs it has presented in recent years. First good news: the MMFA will be open seven days a week all summer long, from June 29 to September 6. This extended schedule accommodates both spontaneous late-day visits and more structured outings with family or friends. The Museum is making the most of the summer season to position itself as a cultural destination for leisurely exploration—air-conditioned, centrally located, and easily combined with a stroll downtown.

Open daily from June 29 to September 6, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts clearly establishes itself as a major cultural destination for Montrealers this season.

The institution maintains its diverse offering: major international exhibitions, journeys through its permanent collections, interpretive activities, and workshops from the School of Fine Arts. Summer 2026 thus becomes an opportunity to experience the museum in different ways—through contemplation, movement, or carried by music.

Arbres, a mural by Nicolas Party

Since June 9, visitors can discover Arbres, a permanent mural by Swiss artist Nicolas Party. Commissioned as part of an MMFA carte blanche, the work extends the museum’s special relationship with the artist, previously highlighted in 2022 during the exhibition L’heure mauve.

Arbres, a mural by Swiss artist Nicolas Party

Installed in a lounge area on the second floor of the Liliane and David M. Stewart Pavilion, the mural quite literally envelops visitors in an autumnal landscape. Through its use of colour and repetition, the work creates a contemplative cocoon—a visual pause within the visitor’s journey and a new permanent landmark that becomes part of each person’s intimate mental map of the museum.

Sculpture Reimagined

Another highlight of the summer is Out of the Pedestal: Sculpture from the 1960s to Today, presented in the Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion (level S2) until March 7, 2027. The exhibition sheds light on the radical transformations of sculpture over the past six decades through nearly twenty works drawn from the Museum’s collections of Quebec and Canadian art, international contemporary art, and decorative arts and design.

Out of the Pedestal: Sculpture from the 1960s to Today

The artists challenge conventions: sculptures placed on the floor, suspended works, and pieces integrated into the architecture. The traditional pedestal disappears or is subverted, inviting visitors to move through the space, walk around the works, and at times even share it with them. The exhibition also features recent acquisitions—notably works by Magdalena Abakanowicz, Richard Artschwager, Jocelyne Alloucherie, Betty Goodwin and Roland Poulin. It offers a compelling opportunity to reconsider the very notion of sculptural presence in space.

Musical Interlude: feu doux at the Museum

The MMFA presents a unique sonic experience with Musical Interlude: feu doux at the MMFA. The Montreal duo—musician Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux (Organ Mood, Lesser Evil) and filmmaker and musician Stéphane Lafleur (Avec pas d’casque)—present Paix la la (Parts I and II), an instrumental work created specifically to accompany visitors as they move through the galleries of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace, or pause in the adjacent Atrium. Built on asymmetrical sound loops, this ambient composition encourages a slower pace and a fuller inhabiting of the space. Oscillating between introspection and expansiveness, Paix la la evokes a shared desire for peace, both intimate and collective.

Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux and Stéphane Lafleur • Musical Interlude: feu doux at the MMFA

At the intersection of cultural mediation and musical creation, the project invites visitors to wander freely through the galleries, where music enters into dialogue with paintings and sculptures by Old Masters. The duo offers a score rich in nuance and contrast, encouraging a renewed, attentive, and introspective way of looking at works created centuries ago. In the Atrium, a meditative space has also been set up, allowing visitors to pause and immerse themselves in the soundscape created by feu doux.

On Your Marks! When Sport Inspires Art

From June 15 to October 12, 2026, the MMFA marks the 50th anniversary of the Montreal Olympic Games with On Your Marks! Sports Inspire Art. Rather than a single-gallery exhibition, the project unfolds as a selection of works from the collection, located throughout the museum’s pavilions and identified by a visual marker.

On Your Marks! Sports Inspire Art

The unifying thread is movement, physical effort, and athletic performance. Among the featured works are The Diver and The Relay Runner by Robert Tait McKenzie, which capture in bronze both the tension and grace of the athletic gesture. Hockey is also in the spotlight, with George A. Lynn’s HM6 Goalie Face Guard and Serge Lemoyne’s iconic Dryden, a true emblem of Quebec popular culture. For visitors, this takes the form of a thematic scavenger hunt woven into the regular visit—an engaging approach, particularly suited to teenagers and sports enthusiasts.

Must-See Exhibitions

Summer 2026 at the MMFA also includes two major international exhibitions that are continuing through the season. First, The Torlonia Collection: Masterpieces of Roman Sculpture, on view until July 19, 2026, presents an exceptional group of ancient sculptures from the world’s most important private collection of Roman sculpture. Following a highly acclaimed showing at the Louvre, these marbles are now on view in North America for the first time, offering a rare glimpse into the aesthetics and virtuosity of ancient Rome.

‘Two major exhibitions continue throughout the summer season at the MMFA.’

In parallel, Richard Avedon: Immortal. Portraits of Time Passing, 1951–2004 runs until August 9, 2026. Bringing together nearly one hundred portraits, the exhibition offers a face-to-face encounter with iconic figures—from Chet Baker to Samuel Beckett to Toni Morrison—as well as with anonymous subjects whose faces speak just as powerfully to the passage of time. Through images of striking precision, Avedon probes questions of presence, social role, and vulnerability across the worlds of fashion, politics, and culture.

Workshops and Museum Life

The MMFA’s School of Fine Arts returns with a series of workshops led by experienced instructors. Whether introductory or advanced, these activities extend the museum visit into hands-on artistic practice, with brush or pencil in hand.

Across this particularly rich summer program, the MMFA demonstrates its ability to continually renew the museum experience by multiplying points of entry and rhythms of engagement. Whether one comes with a specific work in mind, follows a thematic path, or simply seeks a moment of pause in the heart of the city, the museum asserts itself as a vibrant, accessible space deeply rooted in its time. This summer more than ever, it invites each visitor to chart their own path—through looking, moving, and listening.

Museum of Fine Arts

Images courtesy of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts

Other recent articles