Top 5 Montreal Art exhibits to Experience This Week (March 4–5, 2026)
Montreal’s art scene moves fast, but this week feels especially electric. From major gallery openings and centennial tributes to experimental crossovers between engineering and art, the city offers a vibrant mix of established names and bold new voices. Here are five must-attend vernissages to mark in your calendar.
1. Territories + Denis Juneau on Paper
📍 Galerie Simon Blais, 5420 St-Laurent Blvd., Montreal
📅 Wednesday, March 4, 2026
⏰ 5 PM – 8 PM
Galerie Simon Blais will be buzzing this Wednesday with a festive double opening. The collective exhibition Territories brings together a remarkable range of artists from different eras and sensibilities, all united by the theme of landscape. The lineup reads like a cross-section of Canadian art history: Marie-Eve Beaulieu, Louis-Philippe Côté, Marc-Aurèle Fortin, Benjamin Klein, Josiane Lanthier, David Nash, Julie Ouellet, Jean Paul Riopelle, Goodridge Roberts, Natalja Scerbina, Marc Séguin, Françoise Sullivan, Frédérique Ulman-Gagné, and Irene F. Whittome.
In Room 2, the gallery honors Denis Juneau with an exhibition of works on paper marking the 100th anniversary of his birth. A key figure of the second generation of Quebec’s Plasticiens, Juneau’s rigorous geometric abstraction foregrounds color experimentation and formal precision. Recipient of the prestigious Paul-Émile Borduas Prize in 2008, his legacy remains foundational. Expect a strong turnout and animated conversations throughout the space.
2. Génie-Oeuvres – Engineering Meets Art
📍 Archives Nationales, 535 Viger Street, Montreal
📅 Wednesday, March 4, 2026
⏰ 5 PM – 7 PM
Celebrating UNESCO’s World Engineering Day for Sustainable Development, this inventive exhibition transforms research into art. Thirteen PhD candidates in engineering from Polytechnique Montréal present works in painting, sculpture, and even dance within the stunning atrium of the Archives Nationales.
Titled Génie-Oeuvres, the show invites visitors to experience the fusion of art and science through creative reinterpretations of doctoral research. It’s a rare opportunity to see analytical thinking translated into sensory and visual language. As an added bonus, the bar is included for this special evening. Expect an intellectually stimulating yet accessible atmosphere.
3. Manuel Mathieu – Perineum
📍 Galerie Hugues Charbonneau, Belgo Building
📅 Thursday, March 5, 2026
⏰ 5 PM – 8 PM
One of Montreal’s most visible contemporary artists, Manuel Mathieu returns with Perineum, a new body of work at Galerie Hugues Charbonneau. The exhibition gathers seven new canvases, three prints exploring new terrain, and two mosaics.
Mathieu shifts toward more physical and visceral concerns, focusing on the symbolism of the perineum—the body’s foundational plane supporting internal organs. The result is a striking meditation on corporeality and tension. The opening also marks a peak moment in Mathieu’s career, with recent public art at the REM Université de Montréal station, a soon-closing exhibition at PHI, a Radio-Canada interview, and upcoming participation in a collective exhibition at the Venice Biennale. Vernissages at Hugues Charbonneau are known for drawing an engaged and dynamic crowd.
4. Michelle Bui & Kuh Del Rosario – Holding Still
📍 McBride Contemporain, Belgo Building
📅 Thursday, March 5, 2026
⏰ 5 PM – 8 PM
Another essential stop at the Belgo, Holding Still brings together two compelling artists whose practices capture suspended moments in delicate balance. Michelle Bui works across photography and sculpture, exploring sensual and sensory relationships with everyday objects. Winner of the Pierre Ayot Prize in 2022, she continues to refine her nuanced visual language.
Kuh Del Rosario, originally from Manila, approaches material with intuition, shaped by diasporic experience. Her participation in one of the young curators’ exhibitions at the Manif d’Art / Quebec City Biennale underscores her rising visibility. McBride Contemporain’s openings consistently attract an enthusiastic audience and festive atmosphere.
5. Spring Solo Exhibitions – Walter Scott & Mégane Voghell
📍 Fonderie Darling, 745 Ottawa Street, Montreal
📅 Thursday, March 5, 2026
⏰ 5 PM – 10 PM
The week culminates with Fonderie Darling’s expansive spring vernissage. In the main hall, Walter Scott presents an immersive deployment of films, sculptures, and installations drawn from his comic-based universe, exploring revenge, memory, everyday imaginaries, and the art world itself.
In the smaller gallery, Mégane Voghell transforms the space into an interactive playground of collective storytelling and immersive experience.
Evening schedule:
17h – Doors open
18h – Speeches
18h30–20h30 – Open studio visits
22h – Exhibition closes (music and bar service until 10 PM)
Fonderie Darling’s convivial gatherings and mid-evening shared bites make it a destination where art and community converge.
For more Montreal vernissages, radio features, and in depth coverage of visual arts and related disciplines, explore Magazine Radio In Situ, one of the city’s few programs fully dedicated to visual arts since 2010.
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