🎨 Top 5 Montreal Vernissages to Discover This Week

As autumn deepens, Montreal art vernissages continue to light up the city with emotion, experimentation, and soul. From intimate spaces to grand community gatherings, this week’s openings explore family, memory, identity, and the many ways artists transform materials into meaning.

Whether you’re an art collector, a curious newcomer, or someone who simply wants to feel something real, these five vernissages are where Montreal’s creative heartbeat can truly be felt.

1️⃣ Viva La Familia / Contigo en la Distancia + Présence / Absence

📍 Maison de la culture Notre-Dame-de-Grâce – 3755 Rue Botrel, NDG
🗓️ Thursday, October 16, 2025 – 5PM to 7PM

Presented by the PAAL (Programmes et Ateliers sur la Diversité Culturelle), this exhibition feels perfectly timed with the upcoming Día de los Muertos. Artists Carlos Rojas (ceramist) and Federico Carbajal (sculptor and architect), in collaboration with photographer Victor Vargas Villafuerte, reinterpret the themes of family, migration, loss, and tradition.

Rather than leaning on the typical imagery of the Day of the Dead, the artists take a fresh, interdisciplinary approach — blending metal, ceramics, and architectural forms to explore passage, memory, and transmission. The result is both poetic and grounded in craftsmanship. Expect a deeply emotional, yet festive ambiance that captures the essence of what makes Montreal art vernissages so special: their power to bring diverse cultures together in one creative breath.

2️⃣ Léopold L. Foulem – When the Object Becomes the Subject

📍 Chiguer Art Contemporain, Belgo Building
🗓️ Thursday, October 16, 2025 – 5PM to 8PM

Head downtown to the Belgo — the beating heart of Montreal’s contemporary art scene — for an evening dedicated to the late Léopold L. Foulem, a world-renowned ceramist who passed in 2023. A pioneer in bringing irony, kitsch, and pop-art references to ceramics, Foulem’s work humorously blurs the line between art object and everyday item.

This Montreal art vernissage doubles as a heartfelt homage to an artist who challenged conventions with wit and depth. For a richer experience, make it a triple stop: the same night, the Belgo hosts Maryam Izadifard’s Silent Void / Northern Echo at Duran Contemporain and Onira Lussier’s Chromatic Resonances at Galerie POPOP. Three galleries, one building, and a perfect Thursday night crawl for contemporary art lovers.

3️⃣ L’Art de l’Île – Collective Expo & Competition

📍 L’Entrepôt Auto MTL – 1007 René-Lévesque Blvd, Nuns’ Island
🗓️ Thursday, October 16, 2025 – 6PM to 8PM

Eighty-four artists. One vibrant community. This sixth edition of L’Art de l’Île transforms into a competition to celebrate Verdun’s 150th anniversary. Hosted in an unexpected location — the sleek Gravel Automobiles space on Nuns’ Island — the show invites painters of all levels, from emerging to professional, to present an original work themed Verdun in images: from yesterday to tomorrow.

It’s a rare opportunity to witness how a single neighborhood can inspire so many different visual languages. The winning pieces will later be exhibited at the Elgar Community Centre (November 3–16). Expect a buzzing atmosphere that feels part art fair, part community celebration — the kind of event that makes Montreal art vernissages so inclusive and alive.

4️⃣ Rémi Bergeron – One Character / One Object / One Story

📍 Galerie Beauchamp – 51 St-Paul West, Old Montreal
🗓️ Thursday, October 16, 2025 – VIP Evening (RSVP required)

For those who like their art served with a glass of wine and conversation, Galerie Beauchamp invites you to a VIP evening featuring sculptor Rémi Bergeron. Known for his fascination with objects, their forms, structures, and lived histories, Bergeron’s works unite mixed materials and storytelling in ways that feel both intimate and monumental.

Set in the elegant cobblestone charm of Old Montreal, this Montreal art vernissage is more than an exhibition, it’s a sensory experience. Expect an atmosphere that blends gallery sophistication with the warmth of personal narrative.

5️⃣ Wind Shake – Thimoté Borne & Les Ramsay + Maurice Brault

📍 Espace Maurice – 916 Ontario East, Suite 320
🗓️ Saturday, October 18, 2025 – 6PM to 9PM

Hidden in the heart of Centre-Sud, Espace Maurice is one of those secret apartment galleries that make Montreal’s art scene so human and unpretentious. Wind Shake brings together new works by Thimoté Borne and Les Ramsay, with a featured piece by Maurice Brault, the artist whose name graces this intimate venue.

Expect vintage décor, friendly faces, and an authentic energy that larger galleries can’t replicate. For collectors and art-world insiders alike, this vernissage is a small-space event with big creative vibes, the perfect close to a busy week of Montreal art vernissages.

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✨ Best Kept MTL keeps your finger on the creative pulse because every week, somewhere in Montreal, art happens where you least expect it.

Looking for something more timeless and laid-back? Try a touch of AI meets ballet.