Arthur Villeneuve

In 2016, the Maison Arthur-Villeneuve acquired the collection of Jean-Louis Gagnon which included 200 works by the artist, the most significant acquisition since the purchase of the artist's house.

Since 1993, his house has been regarded as a national heritage asset by the Canadian government, and has held a special place in the history of 20th century Quebec art. In I994, the house was moved to the interior of Building 21 at the Chicoutimi museum, "La Pulperie". The house and Villeneuve`s paintings are on permanent exhibition at La Pulperie to this day.

Villeneuve began painting frescoes on the outside of his house in April, 1957. Still working as a barber, he painted 100 hours per week for 23 months, until he had covered the front facade, the rear, all the interior walls and ceilings, and even the windows of his house. The official opening of the house as an artwork titled the "Musée de l'artiste" took place in 1959. A 1964 film about the artist, Villeneuve, peintre-barbier (Director: Marcel Carrière), by the National Film Board did much to introduce Villeneuve and the project to the public.

In total Villeneuve had seven children, four with Simone and three with Hélène. The nine Villeneuves lived in their unpretentious house at 669 rue Taché, Chicoutimi, beginning in 1950.

After 1950, Villeneuve concentrated solely on painting. In 1972, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts organized a major retrospective of his work titled Arthur Villeneuve's Quebec chronicles. By 1978, he had painted 2800 canvasses. Conservative estimates place his final output at 3000 paintings. His works range in area from a few square inches to his "favourite" format of 30"x40" to several slightly larger works. In 1978, a 30"x40" painting would be "given away" for the price of $50 (CND), while today a similar work regularly sells in the thousands.

The sudden urgency to become an artist on Villeneuve's behalf was attributed by him to a revelation he had in 1946. This decisive moment occurred during the homily at Sunday mass, in which the priest quoted from a letter of Pope Pius XII. The purpose of the letter was to exhort the faithful to make full use of their talents. Villeneuve believed that he had, until then, left his artistic ability untouched, and returned home to set about developing his gift.

These years of prosperity ended abruptly in 1944 with the death of Villeneuve's first wife, Simone Bouchard, and the loss of his properties. He became a barber at Hôtel-Dieu Hospital in Chicoutimi. Meanwhile, he remarried: his second and last wife was a woman from Rimouski named Hélène Morin.

Arthur Villeneuve, CM (January 4, 1910, Chicoutimi, Quebec - May 24, 1990, Montreal, Quebec) was a Québécois painter and member of the Order of Canada.