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1920
A fine arts collection is formed. The first acquisitions eventually become part of the Musée de la Province, the first museum created by the provincial government.
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1927-1931
In the summer of 1927, construction on the Musée de la Province—the first building in the museum complex we know today—begins in Battlefields Park.
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1933
The Musée de la Province, a neoclassical building designed by architect Wilfrid Lacroix, officially opens on June 5. At the time, the Musée housed the provincial archives and had galleries dedicated to natural history and fine arts.
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1936
The Musée stages a retrospective on a pioneer of 19th-century Québec art, painter Théophile Hamel.
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1940
Artist Alfred Pellan returns from Paris, and an exhibition on the young modernist has audiences buzzing.
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1942
The Musée stages a retrospective on Clarence Gagnon, a Québec landscape painter.
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1945
Along with three other museums, the Musée de la Province de Québec organizes a retrospective devoted to Canadian painting: The Development of Painting in Canada, 1665–1945.
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1947
With the Femina exhibition, the Musée celebrates seven female artists: Sylvia Daoust, Simone Dénéchaud, Suzanne Duquet, Claire Fauteux, Agnès Lefort, G. Paige Pinneo, and Marion Scott.
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1956
Ozias Leduc, a pioneering Québec painter, is celebrated in a retrospective.
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1959
The Musée receives a landmark donation from the personal collection of former premier Maurice Duplessis. The donation adds 66 works of art to the collection, including pieces by Corot, Boudin, and Krieghoff.
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1961 à 1963
A new, four-storey annex is built to house galleries, a library, and new offices.
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1963
The Musée de la Province de Québec becomes the Musée du Québec.
The natural science collections leave the Musée to make way for more art.
The French Minister of Cultural Affairs at the time, writer, Resistance fighter, and intellectual André Malraux comes for a visit.
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1965
The Tutankhamun Treasures exhibition, featuring masterpieces from Egypt, has crowds in a frenzy.
One night in May, the Musée du Québec falls victim to a daring burglary. A lengthy investigation follows; the 28 stolen works are eventually recovered, relatively undamaged, in 1969.
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1966
The Musée stages a retrospective to mark the 80th birthday of modernist and landscape painter John Lyman.
It also surpasses the 300,000 visitor mark for the second year in a row.
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1967
The Musée stages its first retrospective devoted to Jean Paul Riopelle, an artist whose style reflected some of the most significant trends of his time.
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1968
Painter Jean Dallaire, the rebellious dreamer, is celebrated in a retrospective two years after his death.
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1971
The extravagant Madame Belley is honoured at the Musée. The outfits and photographs of this prominent figure in Québec City’s cultural scene—known for the flamboyant clothing and jewelry she made herself—make quite an impression in the rotunda.
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1972
The Musée stages a retrospective of tapestries by master weaver Mariette Rousseau-Vermette.
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1976-1991
The Galerie de l’Anse-aux-Barques, the Musée’s new gallery in Place Royale, serves as an invaluable showcase for young artists.
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1977
An expansion project is announced. It will involve reorganizing spaces in the original building, restoring the former Plains of Abraham prison, and constructing a building to connect the two.
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1980
The Archives nationales du Québec move to Université Laval.
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1983
For its 50th anniversary, the Musée stages an exhibition celebrating 50 years of acquisitions.
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1984
The National Museums Act makes the Musée du Québec a public corporation. Its collection is now devoted exclusively to works of art.
His Holiness Pope John Paul II visits the Musée for Le Grand Héritage, a major exhibition of religious art.
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1985-1986
The Musée closes for renovations, in part to bring it up to current museological standards, then reopens.
In 1986, the Tableaux de maîtres français impressionnistes et postimpressionnistes de l’Union soviétique exhibition, featuring paintings by French Impressionist and post-Impressionist painters on loan from the Soviet Union, attracts 135,000 visitors in six weeks.
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1988-1991
The Musée undergoes a major expansion; an entry pavilion is built and the former Québec City prison is added to the complex.
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1990
The Musée acquires the Hébert family archive, which consists of 1,486 works of art and an impressive archive. This acquisition tells the story of a renowned family of artists: Louis-Philippe Hébert and his two sons, Henri and Adrien.
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1991
The brand-new Musée officially opens. It now has three pavilions with 13 galleries, storage areas, workshops, an auditorium, a restaurant, and a shop.
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1992
The Musée stages a posthumous retrospective tribute to Jean Paul Lemieux, a key figure in Québec art history.
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1993
A sculpture garden is created, featuring large-scale works by artists from Québec and beyond.
Artist Alfred Pellan is honoured in an ambitious collaborative retrospective.
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1996
The Musée acquires Jean Paul Riopelle’s monumental fresco Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg. It is displayed for the first time in 2000.
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1997
Works by the Group of Seven and Québec landscape artists are brought together for the first time at the Musée.
Charles Daudelin’s bold, multifaceted art is highlighted in an exhibition.
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1998
The Rodin à Québec exhibition breaks all attendance records, attracting almost 525,000 people over its 103-day run.
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2000
The Musée showcases the work of Cornelius Krieghoff, the famous 19th-century Canadian painter, in a retrospective in his beloved city.
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2001
The Musée is in the spotlight thanks to the Commission de la capitale nationale du Québec’s lighting plan.
The first retrospective devoted to Louis-Philippe Hébert, known as the “national sculptor,” is presented at the Musée.
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2002
The art of a virtuoso, Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté, is revisited in a major exhibition.
Bill 125 is adopted by the National Assembly. Among other things, it gives the Musée du Québec a new name: the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
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2003
The Musée features artist Rita Letendre in an exhibition. As a testament to her unwavering goodwill toward the Musée, she takes the opportunity to donate 23 paintings and 78 works on paper.
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2004
The Musée receives a major gift of some 60 works of contemporary art from patrons Patrice and Andrée Drouin.
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2005
Thanks to financial support from Hydro-Québec, collector Raymond Brousseau donates his unique collection of Inuit art, which consists of 2,635 works.
Camille Claudel and Rodin: Fateful Encounter, a remarkable international exhibition, arrives at the Musée.
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2006
Two retrospectives celebrate two masters of light, Fernand Leduc and Clarence Gagnon.
The Musée also makes a major acquisition: the Yves Beauregard collection of 3,550 photographs.
The governments of Canada and Québec announce their financial participation in a new expansion project for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
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2007
A new international exhibition, The Baroque World of Fernando Botero, arrives.
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2008
A year of excitement for the Musée’s 75th anniversary! To mark the 400th anniversary of Québec City, the Musée co-produces the Louvre in Québec exhibition with France’s most famous museum. It attracts some 465,000 visitors.
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2009
An international architectural competition is launched for a new pavilion at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
Two exhibitions offer new perspectives on Québec art: Femmes artistes. La conquête d’un espace, 1900–1965 and Le nu dans l’art moderne canadien, 1920–1950.
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2010
Following an international architectural competition, a design by OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), in partnership with the firm Provencher_Roy, is chosen for the Musée’s future expansion.
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2011
Madeleine P. Pelland’s bequest of 1,630 works of art and art objects, as well as a major archive, makes the MNBAQ the leading repository for the work of her husband, artist Alfred Pellan.
Two exceptional research projects, on artists Marc-Aurèle Fortin and Napoléon Bourassa, give rise to two remarkable exhibitions.
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2012
Excavation begins for the future Pierre Lassonde Pavilion.
Knowledge of Québec art evolves through two major exhibitions: Fashion and Appearance in Québec Art, 1880–1945 and Fine Arts in New France.
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2013
A new milestone for the Musée: construction of the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion begins after a groundbreaking ceremony.
Art historian Michel Lessard donates a collection of over 700 exceptional photographic documents to the Musée.
The MNBAQ Contemporary Art Award is made possible by the RBC Foundation.
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2014
The Charles-Baillairgé Pavilion becomes a showcase for four major figures of modern Québec art: Jean Paul Lemieux, Fernand Leduc, Alfred Pellan, and Jean Paul Riopelle.
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2015
Rock singer Bryan Adams stops in Québec City to peruse the exhibition of his work at the Musée during the MNBAQ’s “photo season.”
The Musée illuminates the art district and collaborates to create Lumière sur l’art, a trail of 34 giant lampshades along Cartier Avenue featuring works by Fernand Leduc and Alfred Pellan.
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2016
The new Pierre Lassonde Pavilion officially opens on June 24, 2016. The building bridges the gap between art, city, and nature. It showcases collections from 1960 to the present day, houses dedicated galleries for decorative arts and design and Inuit art, and offers a distinctive architectural experience.
Over 31,000 people take part in the three-day opening celebrations.
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2017
Renovations begin on the Gérard Morisset Pavilion, the original building of the MNBAQ museum complex.
Québec art is at the forefront throughout the Musée with three exhibitions: Time Flies. Vanitas Art in the MNBAQ Collection, The Fabulous Destiny of the Paintings of the Abbés Desjardins, and Mitchell | Riopelle. Nothing in Moderation.
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2018
The Gérard Morisset Pavilion reopens and the ancient and modern art collections are redisplayed to mark the Musée’s 85th anniversary. The Becoming. 350 Years of Art Practice in Québec exhibition puts these works in the spotlight.
Meanwhile, international artists Berthe Morisot and Alberto Giacometti are honoured in the Pierre Lassonde Pavilion, with the incredible
Marcel Barbeau. In Motion retrospective taking centre stage.
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2019
The exhibition Miró in Mallorca. A Free Spirit ranks second on the list of Canada’s most popular art exhibitions for 2019.
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2020
A year of adaptation: the COVID-19 pandemic forces the Musée to close on several occasions, disrupting the exhibition calendar for several years.
The Frida Kahlo, Diego Rivera and Mexican Modernism exhibition is a great success, despite health restrictions.
Extended closures allow the Musée to work on a spectacular digital transition several years in the making. Later, this shift allows the MNBAQ to launch its L’art dans ma classe educational platform.
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2021
Two exhibitions devoted to two titans of world art history—J. M. William Turner and Pablo Picasso—attract considerable public interest.
In December, the Québec government announces that it will provide funding for the Espace Riopelle, a new pavilion dedicated to the works of painter Jean Paul Riopelle. The pavilion is made possible by the Fondation Riopelle and a major gift of works from patrons Michael J. Audain and Pierre Lassonde.
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2022
Collectors and patrons Michael J. Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa donate eight exceptional paintings by Paul-Émile Borduas to the Musée. These works, of inestimable artistic value, constitute one of the most significant donations to the MNBAQ.
Preparations for the Espace Riopelle: Les Architectes FABG wins the architectural competition.
The Gérard-Morisset and Charles-Baillairgé pavilions close in the spring for preparatory work ahead of construction on the Espace Riopelle.
The Musée stages Evergon. Theatres of the Intimate, a major retrospective devoted to this pioneer of Canadian photography.
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2023
The Pierre Lassonde Pavilion sees several major exhibitions featuring works by Rembrandt and Alexander McQueen, as well as works from the Sobey family’s collections of Canadian art.
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2024
Construction officially starts on the future Espace Riopelle in the spring.
Canadian art is in the spotlight with the Helen McNicoll. An Impressionist Journey and
Early Days. Indigenous Art from the McMichael Canadian Art Collection exhibitions.
