The Sikh Art Gallery is part of the Arts of One World wing at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA).
Sikh Art Gallery was set up in 2022 with contributions from Narinder Singh and Satinder Kaur Kapany, Honorable Baljit Singh and Mandeep Roshi Kaur Chadha, the Sikh Foundation International (U.S.A.) and the Chadha Family Foundation (Canada).
The permanent gallery endeavors to foster understanding and promotion of Sikh culture through a collection of artworks, both historic and contemporary.
In a speech Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Toronto on May 4, 2024, the prime minister acknowledged that, “The first Sikh Gallery in Canada was established in 2022 at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.”
Between January 1, 2023, and December 31, 2023, 208,289 people visited the Arts of One World and the Sikh Art Gallery: the highest number of visitors for any Sikh Gallery outside India.
The Arts of the One World’s collection is one of the oldest and most prestigious in Canada.
The collection creates a dialogue between artworks of ancient cultures and those by local and international contemporary artists, showing that cultures are not static but rather in continuous growth.
It also promotes a renewed intercultural and transhistorical perspective, wherein different cultures are not isolated; rather they are in an interactive dialogue with each other.
As well, it promotes inclusive values that reflect Montreal, a metropolis made up of nearly 120 cultural communities.
The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is a world-class museum founded in 1860, it is the oldest museum in Canada and the largest art museum by gallery space in Canada.
Its mission is to acquire, conserve, study, interpret and present significant works of art from around the world and from every era.
Its collection currently consists of over 47,000 works of art. The museum’s international art collection is unique in Quebec for its scope and quality and is among the three largest in Canada. The decorative arts and design collection is among the largest of its kind in North America.
Pre-Covid in 2017, the museum was the most visited art museum in Canada with 1.3 million visitors a year. Post-Covid over 700,000 people visited the MMFA in 2023.
MMFA has 70,000 paid members and 9,000 active donors.
Over 300,000 people participated in its educational and community activities since “Sharing the Museum” program was started.
