What's New

What's New

Portrait Gallery of Canada reopens its vault to share Canadian treasures!

(Ottawa) January 21, 2009- The Portrait Gallery of Canada is once again opening the doors to Vault 34 at the Library and Archives Canada Preservation Centre in Gatineau to provide the public with free, guided tours of the national portrait collection.

Featured works include a recently-acquired sculpture of David Suzuki by prominent Canadian artist Joe Fafard. Also on view are unique portraits without faces of artists Mary Pratt and Frances Anne Hopkins. Pratt's hands show her drinking tea, and Hopkins paints herself in a canoe with brawny voyageurs shooting the Lachine Rapids in 1863. Visitors will also enjoy a masterly early portrait of General Sir James Wolfe next to a portrait of his counterpart, General Louis Joseph Montcalm.

"We've taken to heart our visitors' enthusiastic suggestions that we should show even more works," said Lilly Koltun, Director General of the Portrait Gallery of Canada. "We're hoping people will be surprised and delighted with our new selections from across Canada!"

Every Sunday, from February 15 to March 22, 2009 inclusive, there will be two free, bilingual guided tours daily at 11:00 a.m. and at 2:00 p.m., each with a capacity of 15 people. A free shuttle to and from the Preservation Centre in Gatineau will depart from Library and Archives Canada at 395 Wellington Street in downtown Ottawa.

For reservations, please phone: 613-944-1741
Age: 12+ (ID required)

The Portrait Gallery of Canada, a program of Library and Archives Canada, is dedicated to showcasing the men and women who have helped shape and continue to shape our country. Through exhibitions, collections and programming, the Portrait Gallery reflects the values which define Canada and which continue to provide an enduring basis for our country's vision of nationhood now, and into the future. For more information, visit: www.portraits.gc.ca./index-e.html