"Jean-Paul Riopelle, painter, sculptor and lover of the fine arts, has left us. For over a generation he was one of the world’s most prominent and most admired artists. He was above all a free individual with no qualms about defying the status quo and the conventional in expressing his total originality.

Throughout the world, the name Riopelle is pronounced with the same reverence and the same familiarity as the names of artists and writers such as Picasso and Beckett. He was among those who most heavily influenced the history of the visual arts in the twentieth century, primarily by his adherence to the automatistes school. He leaves us a body of work characterized by passion and intensity, where talent is equalled only by a love of life. A body of work so imposing that it would be impossible to count the number of those who today have turned to gaze on one or more of his paintings or sculptures with sorrow at the passing of this giant of contemporary art.

Aline joins me in extending our sincerest condolences, on behalf of all Canadians, to the family and friends of Jean-Paul Riopelle. I sincerely hope that they can find peace and comfort in the affection, respect and admiration inspired in millions of us by the man and his work."