Quebec City opens a museum pavilion devoted to Jean Paul Riopelle

The Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec inaugurated the Espace Riopelle on Wednesday, on the Plains of Abraham. It opens to the public Thursday with four days of festivities.

Cost of the Espace Riopelle

84 million $

The pavilion cost $84 million: the Quebec government paid $44 million, the Fondation Riopelle $25 million, the museum's foundation $10 million and Quebec City $5 million.

The museum now holds more than 500 of Riopelle's 7,000 works, the largest public collection of his art. The top floor gives a room of its own to L'Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, a 40-metre triptych from 1992.

While some cities burn, while people prefer to drift apart, in Quebec City we open a museum.

— Bruno Marchand, mayor of Quebec City