Event Details

Founded in 1900 as the Art Museum of Toronto, the Art Gallery of Ontario is the largest art museum in Canada, with a physical facility of 583,000 square feet. The Gallery’s permanent collection holds 80,000 art objects, dating from 100 BC to the present day. In 2018 the AGO welcomed 950,841 visitors, with approximately half coming from outside the GTA. In 2019 the AGO launched a new admission model - offering visitors a full year of unlimited access to their Collection and all special exhibitions for only $35 while also making the Gallery free for all visitors 25 and under. About two to three times per year, the AGO presents blockbuster exhibitions that serve as major visitor draws. These exhibitions typically run for twelve weeks and are often international in scope. The organization is currently undertaking a historic expansion with the construction of the Dani Reiss Modern and Contemporary Gallery (DRMCG). Opening to the public in 2027, and designed by Diamond Schmitt, Selldorf Architects and Two Row Architect, the 40,000 square foot expansion will add fourteen new galleries spread across five floors.

The AGO has received OCAF funding on eight occasions, most recently in 2018, with $300,000 of support for “Anthropocene”, which exceeded attendnace projections. The organization repaid the Fund and is considered in good standing.

This application is for “Picasso: Painting the Blue Period”,the first exhibition in Canada focusing on the Blue Period. The multidisciplinary exhibition will be presented in partnership with The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. which collaborated on conservation studies of the key Blue Period works in their collections (“La Miséreuse Accroupie” and “La Soupe” from the AGO and “The Blue Room” from The Phillips Collection).

The exhibition will reveal discoveries unearthed beneath the surface of the two Picasso paintings from the AGO collection (discoveries that have already garnered considerable media attention). Key Picasso works have been identified – paintings, sculptures and works on paper – to help tell the story about Picasso’s Blue Period and the exhibition will also include a selection of historical and contemporaneous works by Spanish and French artists including Honoré Daumier, Pierre Puvis de Chavannes and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. The exhibition will conclude how Picasso repurposed themes and motifs found with the three Blue Period paintings during his Rose Period.

Exhibition components include:

(1) 90 works of art including paintings, sculptures and works on paper some of which have never been exhibited in North America;

(2) audio tour;

(3) three dedicated learning “labs” that will focus on the conservation science behind three key paintings;

(4) a talk and reception for Curators’ Circle members;

(5) public talks and panel discussions featuring artists, scholars, and scientists;

(6) themed film screenings;

(7) related programming for school groups, children and families;

(8) “AGO Live”, a full day and evening of art installations, pop-up talks and art-making activities inspired by the exhibition;

(9) themed programming for adult art classes; and

(10) in-gallery Spanish guitar performances.