Montreal will host a monument in tribute to nurses and a huge mural bearing the effigy of Jean-Paul Riopelle, elected Montreal officials said Wednesday morning.
The City will launch competitions to find the artists who will carry out these two projects.
The monument in homage to nurses will be located at the foot of Mount Royal, at the intersection of avenue des Pins and rue Jeanne-Mance, just next to Hôtel-Dieu, municipal documents indicate.
Montreal wants to “recognize a profession which is more than important, which is that of nurse”, indicated Ericka Alneus, the new elected person in charge of Culture, to the executive committee of the City of Montreal.
“The work that will be selected for this competition will be established in a significant sector for this tribute to nurses, whose contribution to the community has been particularly important in the context of a pandemic”, indicates the City of Montreal.
The St. Mary’s Hospital Foundation will fund the construction of the public artwork, to the tune of just over $ 200,000. The project was supported by four graduates of the hospital’s nursing school.
A mural for Riopelle
In addition, Montreal will launch a competition to have a large mural tribute to Jean-Paul Riopelle made, in time for the centenary of his birth in 2023.
“Mr. Riopelle will have his large mural – like that of Leonard Cohen, who also has one,” said Mayor Valérie Plante on Wednesday morning. “I am careful not to tell you what it will look like, because we are going to issue a call for projects. ”
Mme Plante indicated that she also wanted to endow the metropolis with a new public work of art by Jean-Paul Riopelle.
“He is very associated with Montreal for obvious reasons: he was born here, he studied here. It was important for us, for the City of Montreal, to be part of this centenary, ”said Valérie Plante.