Giverny Foundation for Contemporary Art | The necessary sharing of François Rochon

The Giverny Capital Collection, built by collector François Rochon, inherited a setting at Ateliers 3333, near the Saint-Michel metro station in Montreal. By appointment, you can admire 22 works of contemporary art of museum quality. While waiting to see others, next fall, in the “sanctuary of beauty” that he is having built in Shefford on the plans of the architect Pierre Thibault.

When your life path is based in part on sharing your love of art, this passion radiates to you completely. All art lovers who have met François Rochon will tell you. With his intense blue eyes, he communicates with simplicity and enthusiasm his happiness to surround himself with art and to be able to show the works he cherishes.

A determined man, François Rochon changed his professional destiny and abandoned electrical engineering in the 1990s to give himself the means to buy exceptional contemporary art. Chairman and founder of Giverny Capital — a portfolio management company named after Claude Monet’s village, of course! – he entrusted Anne Roger, who worked at the former gallery of Antoine Ertaskiran, with the task of publicizing the works of the Giverny Foundation for contemporary art.

Manager of the Giverny Capital Collection — which includes 750 works of art — Anne Roger was given carte blanche to present some twenty works in the premises of Ateliers 3333. Paintings, sculptures, installations, photographs, drawings and videos that it describes you in detail during the visit. This makes it possible to fully grasp the languages ​​of each work and to understand the underlying reasons for François Rochon’s irrepressible desire to acquire them.

Notably, Pulse-Tank, by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer. The collector purchased this complex installation following the Montreal-Mexican artist’s exhibition at Hishhorn in Washington in 2018-2019. It was the largest display of immersive art the American museum had ever shown. The three works installed (including Pulse-Tank) had occupied the entire second floor of the Hishhorn. And there, you can quietly test this visual and sound work that aesthetically reproduces your heartbeat…

A large diffused room The Erudition, by Albertan Kelly Richardson, based in London. Three large screens aligned, placed on the ground, project images of trees in a post-apocalyptic atmosphere. A unique presentation in Montreal for this spectacular and meditative work.

Another great pleasure of the visit, the installation Two Views, by Adad Hannah. One of his living paintings in which we recognize the touch of the Canadian artist. An installation that breaks down the decor created to film this woman reading a Kafka book without moving. A spectacular work that François Rochon acquired after his exhibition at the Toronto Fair.

You also have to take the time to look Compliance, by Bill Viola. A moving video in which actors play people who have come to pay homage to a deceased. Very strong slow motion images. Next to, Witnessby the same American videographer, turns emotions from laughter to tears…

We emerge amazed by this excursion into the world of contemporary art in all its diversity and talkativeness. It’s also fascinating to take the time to look through the floor-to-ceiling windows of the space. The Metropolitan highway runs along the industrial building transformed into artists’ studios by Marc Séguin. The environment is murky, noisy and polluted. Yet, seen from the windows, one becomes aware of being at the heart of a reality which, hopefully, will eventually disappear to make way for a healthier and more peaceful world. In any case, the works of François Rochon suggest it to us.

François Rochon visited Giverny, in Normandy, in 1990. Claude Monet and his gardens had moved him. He dreamed of building a “Giverny” in Quebec. Having a residence in Shefford, he wanted to establish a “beauty sanctuary” there to exhibit his international works. This will be done soon. The construction of his dream museum is underway on an escarpment of the Montérégie hill, with a view of the valley of the Eastern Townships. The place, nicknamed The Observatory, and its garden of large sculptures, will be inaugurated next fall. Guided tours will be organized there. “And there will be water lilies!” “, says François Rochon.

In the meantime, to see works from the Giverny Foundation at 3333, boulevard Crémazie Est, you must reserve. Enjoy!