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As of April 3, 2011, the Musée des beaux-arts de Mont-Saint-Hilaire is offering an exhibition devoted to artists' palettes. This is a selection from the collection of Claude Bouchard who, while actively involved in the art world from the 1960s, had the idea of ​​approaching artists and asking them for a palette. The very first palette, acquired in 1969, was that of the painter Joseph Plaskett, then living in Paris. The collection of pallets was to grow, following the many meetings with Mr. Bouchard, in his capacity as an art dealer, collector and art critic.

Of the 47 artist palettes that make up this exhibition, some belonged to war painters (Bruno Bobak, Molly Lamb Bobak, Robert Hyndman, Anthony C. Law, Tom Wood), others to Automatist painters (Fernand Leduc, Marcelle Ferron, Marcel Barbeau). As long as we look at the content of this collection, we notice the great diversity to which it testifies, painters from various regions of Quebec and Canada are represented there, including Iain Baines, Graham Metson, Jean-François Provost, Suzanne Joubert, Marcella Maltais, Henri Masson, Pierre Huot, Marc Séguin and many others. The public is invited to come and meet the artists during the opening on Sunday April 3 at 2 p.m.

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It should be noted that in the vast majority of cases, each artist's palette exhibited at the Mont-Saint-Hilaire Museum of Fine Arts is accompanied by a painting that is contemporary to it. The correspondences observed between the palette and the painting are astonishing and, as such, the glance is certainly worth the detour. Several paintings have been loaned by the artists themselves, and the others come from private collections.