Inuit Art

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec’s Inuit art collection
Qaujigiariit nunarjuara
(Discover our world)

One of the finest collections of Inuit art in the world can be found here, at the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.
Come discover the works that the great collector Raymond Brousseau (1938–2021) spent more than 50 years gathering before donating them to the Musée in 2005. Our collection has since been enhanced by miniatures from collector Thomas Kramer (1936–2020), another enthusiast of art from the Inuit of Northern Québec and Canada.

The roughly 3,000 pieces in our incredible collection will take you on a journey across a vast land. The Canadian Arctic stretches for thousands of kilometres, from Baffin Island to Kitikmeot, from the Northwest Territories to Kivalliq (Keewatin), and from Nunavik (Québec) to Labrador. On this expedition, you’ll also come across sculptures from Alaska, Siberia, Northern Europe, and Greenland.

Our collection includes more than 2,600 sculptures, as well as around 250 original prints and drawings, not to mention an assortment of ethnographic objects like jewelry, woodwork, costumes, ivory items, toys, metals, and textiles.

Did you know that Inuit artists work with materials as varied as the themes they depict? For instance, they use many different types of stone from Canada’s geological strata; some are incredibly difficult to carve while others offer almost no resistance to tools.

In our collection, you can admire the different shades of serpentine and argillite, the hardness of basalt, and the smoothness of soapstone. Many works are also carved from ivory sourced from different animals; the material has been used to create objects and art alike for thousands of years. And then, of course, there are the stunning sculptures carved from caribou antler and whalebone.

Inuit artists have long explored the theme of family and the ways it influences everyday life. The Inuit also have a profound respect for the animals of the North, so many artists depict birds, fish, and the mammals of the land and sea in a multitude of ways. Finally, the unexpected shapes of certain pieces will introduce you to a fascinating world of Inuit beliefs, tales, and legends.

Our collection features many renowned artists, with works spanning the entirety of the last 50 years. A significant number of these are contemporary. Come explore the art of some 1,000 artists, including almost 200 female sculptors, carvers, and illustrators. As you travel through the gallery, you’ll have the privilege of learning about Inuit culture and getting to know the people of the Far North on a whole new level.