Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal
| Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal | |
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 Location of the Museum in Montreal
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| Established | 1860 |
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| Location |
1380, rue Sherbrooke Ouest Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3G 1J5 |
| Coordinates | 45°29′55″N 73°34′48″W / 45.4987°N 73.5801°WCoordinates: 45°29′55″N 73°34′48″W / 45.4987°N 73.5801°W |
| Type | Art museum |
| Visitors | 1,015,022 (2014) |
| Director | Nathalie Bondil |
| Public transit access |
 Peel Guy-Concordia
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| Website | mbam.qc.ca |
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) (French: Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal (MBAM)) is an art museum in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the city's largest museum and is amongst the most prominent in Canada. The museum is located on the historic Golden Square Mile stretch of Sherbrooke Street.
The MMFA is spread across five pavilions, and occupies a total floor area of 53,095 square metres (571,510 sq ft), 13,000 (140,000 sq ft) of which are exhibition space. With the 2016 inauguration of the Michal and Renata Hornstein Pavilion for Peace, the Museum campus was expected to become the eighteenth largest art museum in North America. The permanent collection included approximately 44,000 works in 2013. The original "reading room" of the Art Association of Montreal was the precursor of the museum's current library, the oldest art library in Canada.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a member of the International Group of Organizers of Large-scale Exhibitions, also known as the Bizot Group, a forum which allows the leaders of the largest museums in the world to exchange works and exhibitions. The Museum is affiliated with: CMA, CHIN, and Virtual Museum of Canada.
Founded in 1860 by Bishop Fulford, the Art Association of Montreal was created to "encourage the appreciation of fine arts among the people of the city".
Since it did not have a permanent place to store acquisitions the Art Association was not able to acquire works to display nor to seek works from collectors. During the following twenty years, the organization had an itinerant existence during which its shows and expositions were held in various Montreal venues.
In 1877, the Art Association received an exceptional gift from Benaiah Gibb, a Montreal businessman. He gave the core of his art collection consisting of 72 canvases and 4 bronzes. In addition he donated to the Montreal institution a building site on the north-east corner of Phillips Square and further the sum of money of $8,000. This latter gift was on condition that a new museum be constructed on the site within three years. On the 26 May 1879, the Governor General of Canada, Sir John Douglas Sutherland Campbell, inaugurated the Art Gallery of the Art Association of Montreal, the first building in the history of Canada to be constructed specifically for the purpose of housing an art collection. The Art Gallery at Phillips Square comprised an exhibition room, another smaller room (known as the Reading Room) reserved for graphic works as well as a lecture hall and an embryonic art school. The museum was enlarged in 1893. The Art Association held an annual show of works created by its members as well as a Spring Salon devoted to the works of living Canadian Artists.
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