Top 3 Montreal Art Exhibits | August 20–22, 2026
Montreal may still be soaking up the final weeks of summer, but the city’s art scene is already gearing up for fall. This week’s Top 3 Montreal Art Exhibits takes us from a hidden Mile End alleyway to Old Montreal and Saint-Laurent Boulevard.
On the radar: an independent collective exhibition, the meditative world of Martin Beaupré and the multidisciplinary work of Cheryl Pagurek. Three exhibitions, three very different moods and three solid reasons to step off the terrasse and back into Montreal’s creative universe. 🍷🖼️
1. LA MER APRÈS LE SOLEIL — CÉLINE BUREAU
📅 Thursday, August 20, 2026 | 6 PM
📍 Alley between Saint-Urbain and Waverly, just south of Bernard Street, Mile End
We begin our Top 3 Montreal Art Exhibits somewhere perfectly Mile End: in an alleyway transformed into an artistic meeting place.
To mark the end of its 2026 summer residencies, Céline Bureau presents La mer après le soleil, a collective exhibition co-organized by Isabelle Mae-Yen Bredt and Luigi Lagulli.
Six artists — Médéric Corbin, Hassan Saab, Stéphanie Alèxe Hébert, Lola Kingsley, Elena Therese and Long Xi Vlessing — explore cycles of creation, artistic gesture and starting over.
The evening will also introduce research by residents Zaynab Ghaïs-Mortada, Charlie Goulet, Yutong Lin, Siran Tao and Émilie Payeur, supported by publishing house Pièce Jointe toward a collective publication planned for 2027.
Founded in a Mile End garage in 2016, Céline Bureau’s self-managed artist residencies support emerging artists while creating spaces for experimentation, collaboration and exchange between Montreal’s Francophone and Anglophone communities.
Why go? For something raw, independent and community-driven. Contemporary art in a Mile End alley on an August evening? That’s about as Montreal as it gets. 🌞
2. MARTIN BEAUPRÉ — GALERIE D’ART BEAUCHAMP
📅 Friday, August 21, 2026 | 5 PM | RSVP
📍 Galerie d’Art Beauchamp, 66 Saint-Paul Street West, Old Montreal
Next, our Top 3 Montreal Art Exhibits heads into Old Montreal for something considerably more contemplative.
With nearly 30 years of experience, Martin Beaupré draws inspiration from Eastern culture and calligraphy associated with Japanese Zenga.
His minimalist compositions create vast, evocative spaces dominated by white, punctuated by carefully placed bursts of stronger colour. Beaupré is described as an intuitive painter, balancing liberated creative energy with a strong sense of aesthetics.
There’s an almost meditative quality to the work — an invitation to slow down and let space, movement and colour do the talking.
Why go? To change pace. Beaupré’s paintings offer a welcome moment of visual calm before Montreal’s cultural calendar shifts back into high gear. 🧘♂️
3. WATCHING — CHERYL PAGUREK
📅 Saturday, August 22, 2026 | 2–5 PM
📍 Patrick Mikhail Gallery, 4815 Saint-Laurent Boulevard, Montreal
We close this week’s Top 3 Montreal Art Exhibits with Watching, featuring multidisciplinary artist Cheryl Pagurek at Patrick Mikhail Gallery.
Originally trained in sculpture and printmaking, the Ottawa-based artist gradually incorporated photography, video, digital and interactive media into her practice.
Her work explores the tensions and connections between apparent opposites: public and private, past and present, representation and abstraction, urban and natural spaces.
It’s the kind of exhibition that asks you not only to look at the artwork, but to consider how we observe the environments and lives unfolding around us.
Why go? For a Saturday afternoon dose of contemporary art that might make you reconsider what it actually means to watch. 👀
SAVE THESE DATES
Montreal’s fall art season isn’t far behind. Coming up are the 19th edition of World Press Photo Montréal on August 25, the Belgo cultural season opening on September 10, the Pôle de Gaspé cultural opening on September 11, and a female-focused cultural rentrée featuring Jessica Houston, Ginette Légaré and Brigitte Radecki at Art Mûr.
STAY CONNECTED WITH MONTREAL’S VISUAL ARTS COMMUNITY
For additional exhibitions, radio programming, and artist interviews, visit:
Since 2010, Magazine In Situ has remained one of Montreal’s only radio programs devoted entirely to visual arts and related disciplines. Broadcasting every Saturday from noon to 1 PM on Radio Centre-Ville, the show continues to cultivate dialogue between artists and the broader public while championing the city’s remarkably diverse cultural landscape.
As always, Montreal proves that some of its most exciting stories are still being told inside independent galleries, artist-run spaces, and community-driven exhibitions.
Want to go beyond this week’s Montreal art exhibits? Discover the galleries, hidden spaces and artists shaping the city’s contemporary art scene in our guide to the 15 Best Montreal Art Galleries & Must-See Exhibitions.
Best Kept Tip: Bookmark it for your next gallery-hopping afternoon.
