Montreal has a tradition of promoting cultural institutions, much of this funding comes from philanthropic donations from individuals and organizations. This was the case in 1912 when the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts was built and is largely the case today. An art association was formed in 1860 to organize the growing number of Montreal art exhibitions. This resulted in the establishment of a gallery in Phillips square in 1877. By 1912 the gallery spaces were quickly filling, a larger art gallery (seen above) was built to house all of the artwork. The construction of the museum was funded entirely through private donations.
In 1991 the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts opened another building facing the original 1912 structure on the South side of Sherbrooke . The architect Moshe Safdie (designer of the National Gallery of Canada and the Musée de la Civilisation in Ottawa and Hull) wanted to give the new building a monumental appearance that would match the original museum, and at the same time show a completely different concept for the new structure.
Source: the McCord Museum and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
