Exhibitions at Montréal museums
Museums Museums and Culture
Blockbuster exhibitions about fashion from Africa, famed Cree artist Kent Monkman, and iconic detective Sherlock Holmes, are among the many must-see retrospectives and expositions at Montréal museums this Autumn 2025.
Explore the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
The blockbuster Kent Monkman: History Is Painted by the Victors exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts features 40 iconic and monumental paintings by the famed Canadian artist and member of ocêkwi sîpiy (Fisher River Cree Nation) who challenges colonial narratives and offers new perspectives on the past and our present. Highlights include two 7-metre paintings that Monkman was commissioned to paint for the Great Hall of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, which depict the historical and contemporary relationships between the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island (North America) and newcomers to their lands. Runs September 27 to March 8, 2026.
For her first solo exhibition in a Québec museum, Marie-Claire Blais unveils an entirely new body of work, composed of several paintings and a sound work, as the Streaming Light suspended installation that gives this exhibition its name. Runs to January 4, 2025.
As of November 29, the 4th floor of the Claire and Marc Bourgie Pavilion will welcome year-long temporary exhibitions dedicated to a rereading of Québec and Canadian art history using works in the Museum’s collection. The inaugural exhibition, Rising Suns: Art from the Confederacies of the Great Lakes and Rivers, brings together works by such artists as Alanis Obomsawin, Carla Hemlock, Christine Sioui Wawanoloath, Greg Staats, and Robert Houle, whose practices, attest to Indigenous art histories spanning recent centuries to today.
Reliving the past
The Sherlock Holmes immersive exhibition at the Pointe-à-Callière, Montréal Archaeology and History Complex in Old Montréal combines history, literature and investigation from the world of the legendary detective brought to life by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Visitors journey to 19th-century London to explores the author’s sources of inspiration and follow the trail of the master of deduction amid life-size settings. From the iconic 221B Baker Street to the author’s own office, visitors also solve a mystery worthy of Holmes and his faithful sidekick, Dr. Watson. The exhibition also highlights scientific and technological advances of the time – such as ballistics, photography and botany – which helped shape modern investigative methods and the detective’s distinctive world. Runs November 27 to March 8, 2026.
The immersive and interactive exhibition Knights explores the lives of knights during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, from the battlefield to the royal court. Some 250 pieces on display – an impressive selection of European weaponry and armour from the prestigious collection of the Museo Stibbert in Italy – illustrate the historical and cultural richness of the world of knights. Runs to October 19.
Families will also enjoy Pointe-à-Callière’s permanent Come Aboard! Pirates or Privateers? interactive exhibition.
Visitors are encouraged to purchase their tickets online before visiting the museum.
Avant-garde art at PHI
The PHI in Old Montréal presents swell of spæc(i)es, French artist Josèfa Ntjam imagines a contemporary cosmogony where plankton, ocean, and mythology intertwine. This immersive installation featuring video, sculpture, and sound revisits the Dogon creation myth to conjure a fluid world without borders or linear time. Each character is generated using AI and digital tools, composed of memories and hybrid species. A reading and reflection zone designed by the artist invites visitors to deepen their understanding of her research and practice. North American premiere. Runs to January 11, 2026.
PHI also presents the comprehensive Unity in Darkness solo exhibition by Montréal-based Haitian artist Manuel Mathieu whose multidisciplinary practice – painting, drawing, video, sculpture, mosaic, and immersive olfactory installation –explores themes of resilience, memory, spirituality and interconnectedness. Runs October 23 to March 8, 2026.
The Sensory Oversoul exhibition features the North American debut of two installations by London- and Berlin-based collective Keiken: Spirit Systems of Soft Knowing and Morphogenic Angels: Chapter 1. The installations explore themes of interconnectivity, materiality and speculative futures. Runs October 23 to March 8, 2026.
PHI also presents Habitat Sonore in one of Montréal’s only spatial audio listening rooms. Click here for complete schedule.
OASIS immersion
Canada’s largest indoor immersive attraction, OASIS immersion at the Palais des congrès de Montréal presents the 90-minute exhibition Rolling Stone Presents: Amplified, The Immersive Rock Experience narrated by musician and actor Kevin Bacon. The immersive show features more than 1,000 iconic photographs and floor-to-ceiling live video performances of some of music’s most legendary acts like The Who, The Beatles, Tina Turner, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, Chappell Roan, Janis Joplin, Bob Marley, Green Day, Sinead O’Connor, David Bowie, Dr. Dre ft. Snoop Dogg, Radiohead, The Doors, Aretha Franklin, KISS, Joan Jett, The Ramones, Lizzo and more. Runs to November 30.
In collaboration with National Geographic, OASIS immersion presents Root for Nature inspired by the historic COP15 agreements. Root for Nature immerses visitors in a striking interpretation of biodiversity via immersive digital arts and informative educational zones. Runs to November 30.
World Press Photo
The 18th edition of the World Press Photo Montréal exhibition takes place at historic Bonsecours Market in Old Montréal until October 13. Organized by organized by the World Press Photo Foundation since 1955, this year’s awarded photographs were selected from 59,320 entries by 3,778 photographers from 141 countries.
The Musée d'Art Contemporain (MAC) at Place Ville Marie
As part of the 19th edition of the MOMENTA Biennale d’art contemporain, the Musée d’art contemporain de Montréal – widely known as The MAC (or “Le MAC” in French) – presents the group exhibition In Praise of the Missing Image which brings together recent works and new productions by Iván Argote, Maureen Gruben, Joyce Joumaa, Niap, Lee Shulman + Omar Victor Diop — The Anonymous Project, and Sanaz Sohrabi. Runs to March 8, 2026.
The MAC presents contemporary art exhibitions at their temporary location in the Place Ville Marie shopping mall during the museum’s current $57-million renovation. The new MAC will open in 2028.
Click here for tickets and directions.
Lesbian History
The landmark exhibition Keeping our memories alive! Tracing lesbian history in Montréal at The MEM – Centre des mémoires montréalaises starts with the city’s golden age of lesbianism in the 1980s, which lasted until the mid-1990s. Curated by the Archives lesbiennes du Québec, visitors can explore their collections and discover the rich, dynamic history of Montréal’s lesbian community. Runs to October 12. Free admission.
Montréal today and yesterday
The McCord Stewart Museum in the Golden Square Mile presents Africa Fashion, a Canadian exclusive organized by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. This blockbuster exhibition features men’s, women’s and gender-fluid fashion and accessories, jewellery, textiles, photographs, music and art from across the African continent, from the 1960s onwards. Runs September 25 to February 1, 2026.
The Aunties’ Work: The Power of Care exhibition honours the systems of support created by matriarchs of Montréal’s Black communities through the sartorial and cultural context that surrounds them. Runs October 23 to May 24, 2026.
The exhibition On the Menu – Montreal: A Restaurant Story invites visitors to explore the changing face of the Montréal restaurant scene since the 1960s. From deli to fine dining, it reveals how part of the city’s identity has been shaped by the practice of eating out. Runs November 26 to October 18, 2026.
Drawn primarily from the McCord Stewart Museum’s famed Photography collection, the Pounding the Pavement: Montréal Street Photography exhibition chronicles street photography in Montréal from the 19th century to the present day, featuring more than 400 photographs by 30 renowned photographers. Runs to October 26.
The permanent exhibition Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience pulls together 100 carefully selected objects from the museum’s Indigenous Cultures permanent collection.
The art of architecture
The Canadian Centre for Architecture in Shaughnessy Village is not just an architectural jewel in the heart of downtown Montréal, but a world-renowned museum of architecture and international research institution that believes “architecture is a public concern.”
Oscillating Spaces looks to the Rhône Glacier—undergoing fast melting and transformation processes—as a case study to reflect on environmental challenges in a constantly oscillating site. Juxtaposing glacier cartography, photography, film, ecclesiastical documents, tourist souvenirs and architectural archives, the exhibition questions the role of architecture when confronted with a shifting climate and an unstable landscape. Runs to February 1, 2026.
The exhibition Records of Protest displays posters, fliers, periodicals, reports and news clippings from watershed moments, revealing peripheral positions and grassroots opposition in face of capitalism, colonialism, oppression and war. Runs to November 30.
The exhibition With an Acre follows architect Carla Juaçaba as she develops a museum and community space in solidarity with Flor de Café, a collective of smallholder farmers in Minas Gerais, Brazil. Runs to October 12.
As CCA founder Phyllis Lambert says, “We’re not a museum that puts things out and says, ‘This is architecture.’ We try to make people think.”
The MUMAQ
The MUMAQ - Musée des métiers d’art du Québec presents a major exhibition about Gilbert Poissant. A career in public art which is structured around six major murals from across his career. Built primarily from a generous donation by the artist – including models, samples, archival documents, and studio pieces from his personal collection – the exhibition offers an intimate look at Poissant’s creative process. Runs to October 12.
Espace pour la vie
Children of all ages can discover new worlds at Montréal Espace pour la vie, the largest natural-sciences museum complex in Canada. Espace pour la vie comprises the Jardin botanique, Planetarium, the Biosphere, Insectarium and famed Biodôme.
In the Planétarium, the domes of the Chaos and Milky Way theatres are equipped with state-of-the-art laser projectors for an ultra-HD experience. The Planétarium offers a double bill each day.
Over at the Jardin botanique, in addition to the carnivorous plants, visitors can admire superb passionflowers and begonias in full bloom, and see fruit growing on banana, carambola, jackfruit and papaya trees, daily in the greenhouses.
The Biodôme takes visitors through the five ecosystems of the Americas. The Biodôme is a huge crowd-pleaser.
The renovated Insectarium is the first museum in North America where you can observe so many species of insects live – some roaming freely – and naturalized in one place.
Located in Parc Jean-Drapeau on Île Sainte-Hélène, the environmental museum Biosphere is temporarily closed to the public from September 15 to November 17 for major upgrades to improve the facilities. When it reopens, the Biosphere presents the North American premiere of the exhibition Transform: Designing the Future of Energy which runs to December 31.
Purchasing fixed-time tickets online is highly recommended.
The Ecomuseum Zoo
The Ecomuseum Zoo is the only outdoor zoo on the island of Montréal and offers visitors a unique and natural experience to observe 115 animal species – including Black Bears, River Otters, Turtles, Canada Lynx and Eagles – found in Québec’s St. Lawrence Valley. The popular 11-hectare zoo located in Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue is a 30-minute drive from downtown Montréal. There is also free on-site parking for all guests.
The Ecomuseum Zoo is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The last admission of the day is at 4 p.m. Tickets must be purchased online in advance.
Montréal Science Centre
The Montréal Science Centre in the Old Port of Montréal presents the all-new permanent exhibition Nanualuk – Northern Expedition to mark the centre’s 25th anniversary. Visitors embark on an immersive, interactive quest filled with more than 20 missions to accomplish, each featuring a different theme related to life in the Arctic, such as learning how to use a harpoon to “read” the ice, and finding your way using the stars. Every mission has a different level of difficulty.
Their IMAX cinema screens films for all ages.
Château Ramezay – Historic Site and Museum of Montréal
Originally built in 1705 by Montréal’s then-governor Claude de Ramezay as his personal residence, the Château Ramezay in Old Montréal is the oldest private historical museum in Québec. Permanent and seasonal exhibitions attest to the far-reaching history of Montréal, but none so much as the Château Ramezay itself, which served as the Canadian headquarters of the American Revolutionary Army in 1775-1776, and where Benjamin Franklin stayed when he tried to persuade Montréal to join the American revolution.
The Château Ramezay welcomes visitors daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. No reservations required.
Our Lady of the Harbour
Visitors are transported back through time at the Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site which houses the Chapel of Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in the heart of Old Montréal.
Built in 1771 over the ruins of an earlier chapel, the Marguerite Bourgeoys Historic Site houses a museum dedicated to Saint Marguerite Bourgeoys, the Frenchwoman who founded the Congregation of Notre Dame of Montréal and was the colony’s first teacher back in 1653 (Bourgeoys was canonized by the Vatican in 1982). Bourgeoys is buried in the chapel.
Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours chapel is also known as the “Sailor’s Church” not just because it overlooks the otels, but because it was famed in the 19th century for being a pilgrimage site for sailors who arrived in the Port (now the Old Port).
Visitors can climb the chapel’s belvedere to join the “angels of Ville-Marie” and enjoy spectacular views of the Old Port and Old Montréal, as well as visit the permanent Meet Marguerite! exhibition exploring Bourgeoys’ personal saga and legacy.
The historic site is open daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. until October 15.
Beginning October 16, the historic site is closed on Mondays, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday, and open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Sundays.
Tickets can be bought online or at the door. Free admission to the chapel.
Heavenly exhibition
The Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal presents the new exhibition Medicine and Charity: The Hôtel-Dieu Hospitals from the Middle Ages to New France (Médecine et charité, les Hotels-Dieu du Moyen Âge à la Nouvelle-France), produced in collaboration with four Hôtels-Dieu in France that were founded between the 13th and 17th centuries: those of Tonnerre, Beaune, Chalon-sur-Saône, and Baugé. Nearly 100 objects – including some pieces never before seen in Canada – are on display, including stained-glass windows, sculptures, paintings, furniture, tapestries, everyday objects related to the care of the sick, and archives that allow visitors to explore the history and ancient hospital heritage of France and Québec. Opens on October 15.
The permanent exhibition at the Musée des Hospitalières de l’Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal explores the 300-year history of Montréal’s first hospital, Hôtel-Dieu, along with that of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph, a pioneering community of women who laid the foundations of the healthcare system, in Montréal and elsewhere in Canada.
Located in the trendy Plateau Mont-Royal, the museum is open Tuesday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., and weekends from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal
Arsenal Contemporary Art Montreal is a cutting-edge art centre located in the hip, urban Griffintown neighbourhood, and promotes contemporary art by exhibiting Canadian artists alongside international artists.
The virtual reality immersive expedition Tonight with The Impressionists – Paris 1874 steps into 19th-century Paris to relive the birth of Impressionism by transporting visitors to the very first Impressionist exhibition in 1874. Runs to October 19.
The Thresholds interactive installation by artist Michel de Broin is made up of a dozen metro car doors; director Etienne Morneau’s 65-minute film For It Shall Rule traces the evolution of housing along the banks of the Lachine Canal in Montréal; and American artist Rebecca Manson presents the Canadian premiere of Barbecue, a monumental ceramic installation composed of more than 50,000 individually handcrafted glazed pieces.
A selection of recent acquisitions from the prominent Collection Majudia are showcased in a group exhibition of 24 artists, on display in the Arsenal’s vast sky-lit hall. Runs to January 5, 2026.
Écomusée du fier monde
Dedicated to exploring the history of Montréal’s working class, the Écomusée du fier monde is open from Wednesday to Sunday.
Their permanent exhibition All the Livelong Day! The Joys and Sorrows of Life in a Working-Class Neighbourhood chronicles Montréal’s Centre-Sud neighbourhood from the second half of the 19th century onwards, tracing its evolution through the pivotal periods of industrialization, deindustrialization and the community movement.
Photographer Andrea Calderón Stephens’ documentary photo series Living at Leisure: Happiness at Any Age chronicles residents and their recreational staff in 17 Montréal long-term care facilities (CHSLDs), highlighting the importance of pleasure, play and entertainment in building dignified living conditions. Exhibition presented in French only. Runs to October 5.
Centre de design and the Galerie de l'UQAM
The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) Centre de design hosts temporary exhibitions and activities. Click here for current programming.
Meanwhile, the Galerie de l’UQAM presents In Praise of the Missing Image featuring the works of Raphaël Barontini, Gabrielle Goliath and Caroline Mauxion as part of the MOMENTA Biennale d’art contemporain. Runs to October 25.
The Galerie de l’UQAM then presents Agora by sculptor David Altmejd from November 7 to January 17, 2026.
Centre Sanaaq
Artist Serge Marchetta’s multimedia installation Œuvres de chair ne désirera qu'en mariage seulement explores the abuses of power of the Catholic Church and Québec government between 1940 and 1965, and the tragic repercussions on single mothers and the Duplessis Orphans. Runs to November 2.
Richard Burnett
Richard “Bugs” Burnett is a Canadian freelance writer, editor, journalist, blogger and columnist for alt-weeklies, mainstream and LGBTQ+ publications. Bugs also knows Montréal like a drag queen knows a cosmetics counter.