The summer season is in full swing in Montreal, which welcomes approximately 11 million visitors each year. Whether they come from abroad, a neighboring province or even Quebec, many of them take part in guided tours to discover the metropolis. Artisans from “Le Devoir” have also joined in the fun to make you want to (re)discover Montreal from a different perspective.
They color the city and brighten up our daily lives: murals are multiplying in Montreal, partly thanks to the Mural festival. Hand — which has nearly a hundred of them — has become almost an open-air museum. While these colorful frescoes are not lost on anyone, few people know their meaning, the artists who painted them, or the techniques used to create them.
Photo: Adil Boukind Le Devoir
The mural “Freedom Vandalized” by the artist Escif
Photo: Adil Boukind Le Devoir
The works of Mono Sourcil (left) and Hsix
To remedy this, the tourist company Spade & Palacio offers a guided tour through the streets and alleys of the Plateau Mont-Royal to lift the veil on these giant works. In an hour and a half, we discover about fifteen of them, including the famous Grandma Hand (TYXNA collective), the very political portrait of Roy Dupuis (Hsix), the ice cream characters representing the seven deadly sins (Buff Monster) or the one illustrating Beirut under the bombs (Bryan Beyung). As we walk, we notice that graffiti has been grafted onto most of the murals. This is an opportunity for our guide, Mélanie Renaud, to explain the basics of graffiti culture in Montreal.
Photo: Adil Boukind Le Devoir
The mural by the artist Inti
To see in video