Founded in 1860 as the Art Association of Montreal by a group of Montreal art collectors and patrons, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) was one of the first museums in North America to build up an encyclopedic collection worthy of the name. It now numbers over 41,000 works from Antiquity to today, making it unique in Canada. It comprises paintings, sculptures, graphic arts, photographs and decorative art objects.
Through the highly innovative Sharing the Museum programme, we work with more than 450 community organizations whose clienteles include immigrants, refugees, the underprivileged, the disabled, seniors and people at risk.
With Michel de la Chenelière’s second major donation, the Museum can expand its educational, social and therapeutic initiatives to an unprecedented degree. With a total area of 38,620 square feet, the Michel de la Chenelière International Atelier for Education and Art Therapy will be the largest educational centre in a North American art museum. The result? The Museum ranked first among Canadian museums in 2015, with 307,000 participants in its educational, cultural and community programmes – a 207% increase in three years!
