Visitors to Montreal's new Édouard-Montpetit REM station are met with an unexpected sight: a breathtaking art gallery deep underground. The station, now home to Canada's deepest transit hub, features a monumental series of mosaics that bridge the city's storied architectural past with its modern infrastructure.
A Nod to Montreal's Métro Heritage
While the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) network is known for its contemporary, minimalist design, the grandiose mosaics at the Édouard-Montpetit station offer a deliberate homage to the colourful, tile-work era of the Montreal métro. Past the turnstiles, commuters encounter five expansive mosaic artworks stretching 33 metres in total length. The installation, titled Mont habité, was designed by Haitian-born Montreal artist Manuel Mathieu and fabricated by the local studio Mosaika over nearly three years.
Mathieu's inspiration came directly from the station's unique location. Bored 72 metres through Mount Royal, the station is the deepest in Canada and the second deepest in North America. The artist sought to create a work that acknowledged this profound connection to the mountain. "I needed to do something that will acknowledge the fact that we're inside of that piece of rock, which is Mount Royal," Mathieu explained. The artwork's soft colours and abstract shapes are inspired by the mineralogical structure of the mountain's predominant gabbro rock, visible in the station's exposed walls.
The Art of Collaboration and Scale
The massive project was a feat of collaboration. Saskia Siebrand, founder and artistic director of Mosaika, noted that at least 20 people were involved, from glaze mixers to ceramicists to tile layers. "Mosaic is not easy to do as one single artist. You really need a team to put this together," Siebrand said, highlighting the community effort behind public art.
The series begins with a light pink panel Mathieu calls the "pink elephant," creating an airy feeling upon entry. As one moves through the hall, the colours deepen into violets and inky blues, culminating in a dark blue vortex with yellow accents at the far end. Although the panels can be viewed individually, Mathieu conceptualized them as a single, continuous work meant to evoke the geological essence of the site and even acknowledge the "violence to nature" of creating such a large underground space.
Mosaics: A Durable Legacy for Public Spaces
The choice of mosaic tile as a medium was intentional, linking the new REM station to the ceramic legacy of the Montreal métro. Marie-Justine Snider, the artistic curator for the REM, stated that Édouard-Montpetit was the only station where the medium was chosen before the artist. "We really wanted to have a dialogue between the métro and the REM," Snider said, referencing the iconic tile work of mid-century Quebec artist Claude Vermette found throughout the older subway system.
Mosaics are a practical choice for high-traffic transit environments. Siebrand points out they are highly durable, lightfast, washable, and even graffiti-resistant. The installation at Édouard-Montpetit is one of 13 public art projects planned for the REM network, funded by Quebec's policy that dedicates one percent of public infrastructure budgets to art. A similarly large installation is planned for the future McGill station.
For Mathieu, whose work is typically seen in museums, the public reach is unprecedented. "It's only been there for less than a month. The amount of people who have seen it, it's probably more than any shows I've done combined," he remarked in early December. That audience will grow exponentially when the REM line connects to Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport in 2027, ensuring that this profound artistic dialogue with Mount Royal will welcome countless visitors for decades to come.
