Lorraine Pintal to direct Salvador Dalí museum opening next year in Vieux-Port

Theatre director Lorraine Pintal is actively working to open a major museum dedicated to surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in Montreal's Vieux-Port, with an inauguration planned for 2026. The Musée des archives Salvador Dalí will occupy the historic édifice des Commissaires at 357 rue de la Commune, a nineteenth-century building acquired with support from a patron.

Pintal, who spent more than 30 years as artistic and general director of Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), was recruited to lead the new institution by Félix Bélanger, a cultural entrepreneur who initiated the project. Bélanger began studying Dalí's work in 2017 and has spent years building relationships with collectors and archivists of the artist's work. He organized the exhibition Divina Dalí in 2021, which travelled to Toronto.

"It is time that Montreal had great institutions dedicated to internationally renowned artists," Pintal told La Presse. "We have the impression we are doing something great for Montreal."

Pintal visited Figueras, Dalí's birthplace in Spain, before committing to the role. "When I made a pilgrimage to Figueras, the crush was real. I told myself: Montreal needs Dalí. It's too strong, too powerful, too vast. We cannot pass up the possibility for Montreal to be noticed," she said.

The museum will focus on Dalí's "graphique" work—drawings, engravings, lithographies, and silkscreens rather than paintings. Initial exhibitions will feature loans from a small group of collectors. "Dalí is sexy. He is an extraordinary entry point to art. He is accessible, he is rebellious, he does not frighten anyone, people adore him," Bélanger said. "His work on paper is a whole part of his work that is not presented anywhere. It's like discovering a new Salvador Dalí."

The project is backed primarily by Patricia Saputo, a member of the Saputo philanthropic family. Saputo told Bélanger that she had always wanted to do something great for Montreal and that her parents had always loved Salvador Dalí. The building was purchased from the family of Daniel Langlois, an entrepreneur who owned it since the 1990s and had created 357c, a private club where Montreal's elite gathered for years before it closed in 2019. Langlois was killed in 2023 in Dominica. His family moved forward with the sale after Bélanger approached Langlois before his death about the museum idea.

A team of roughly a dozen people has been working on the project in secrecy for months. The city has not announced total capital costs or a specific opening date beyond 2026.