This text is part of the special section Museums
The future Espace Riopelle, which will be integrated into the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec, is a bold architectural challenge — like the painter — and a captivating project.
Jean Paul Riopelle would have been 100 years old this year. This is an opportunity for Quebec to pay tribute to the painter, engraver and sculptor, which will continue throughout the next few years. One of the most ambitious projects is the creation of the future Espace Riopelle, one of the rare buildings built in Quebec to house a unique corpus. At a cost of $42.2 million, it will be enshrined in the complex of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ), the very first Quebec museum to have acquired one of his works, in 1956, and will partly replace the current Central Pavilion. Quite an architectural challenge given that the surrounding heritage buildings, the Charles-Baillairgé pavilion, the former Québec prison and the Gérard-Morisset pavilion in particular, were all built in the neoclassical style of the 1930s. space will border the historic site of the Plains of Abraham. When it opens in 2025-2026, the latter will house around a hundred paintings and sculptures, including a donation of 69 works from the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation. The MNBAQ already has the largest public collection of works by the painter.
Integration challenges
Last September, we learned that the Quebec firm Les architectes fabg won the call for tenders following the deliberations of a jury made up of experts, the board of directors of the MNBAQ and the Jean Paul Riopelle Foundation. “The fabg architects captured the essence of this project,” explains Jean-Luc Murray, general manager of the MNBAQ. The architect in charge of the project, Éric Gauthier, who heads the award-winning firm, is very involved and very attentive. He fully understands the technical constraints as well as the objectives related to the visitor experience, accessibility and alignment with the museum reserves in place. Admittedly, this is not the firm’s first success in the artistic world: Joliette Art Museum, Esplanade Clark, Cirque du Soleil head office, Espace Go, etc. “This experience shines through in his way of understanding the reality of the project,” enthuses Jean-Luc Murray. We can’t wait to work with him on the integrated design process and to adjust, in the coming months, certain aspects such as the volume, the slopes of the roofs, the through view, etc. This, in the idea of dialogue with the partners – patrons and philanthropists, City of Quebec, Parc des Champs-de-Bataille and local community – and to develop the project without changing its essence. This search for acceptability is fairly new in terms of architecture in Quebec. “It takes an architect in a posture of humility, like Éric Gauthier,” adds Jean-Luc Murray.
One of these constraints is to make Riopelle’s colossal work resonate in a space that celebrates the themes dear to the artist — nature, the nordicity, the territory, the river — and his powerful, rhythmic, emotional style, where the sculpture is never far from the canvas. “From a philosophical point of view, we wanted this space to be talk Riopelle to other Quebec artists presented in the national collection, explains the director general of the MNBAQ. It was also necessary to establish a correspondence with the claimed room of Global denial. The result is a structure on a human scale, very fenestrated, echoing painters’ studios, with direct access to natural light. Designed in accordance with the concepts of sustainable development, the future pavilion will be at the antipodes of the sanitized museum, a little frozen, “a pavilion full of audacity, the opposite of the mausoleum”, according to the expression of Jean-Luc Murray. No choice to dare novelty to be inclusive and open to all.
Celebrate the emotion
“No white, smooth spaces,” echoes architect Éric Gauthier. The final project and the scenography must resonate with Riopelle, his personality and his work, and convey his powerful rebellious side. The architect wants the visitor to evolve through an emotional crescendo that culminates in space and in psychological, even spiritual intensity: the circular room on the third floor where the master fresco will be exhibited Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg, overlooking the river and the Plains. A place conducive to meditation. “Works of art don’t just speak to the head; they speak to emotions, adds Jean-Luc Murray. It talks about our values. The people at the Foundation find us a bit flyaways, but they embark on the project, they trust us. We often wonder what Riopelle would think of this architectural project; we may be a little drooling, but we think he would be happy! »
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