MONTREAL.- The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) is presenting Jeu d’esprit, the first ever solo exhibition of Allison Katz in a Quebec museum. Born in Montreal, Katz has won international acclaim and become one of the most exciting contemporary painters of her generation. Opening to the public on October 9, the exhibition features 15 paintings, including 8 works created specifically for the occasion; all set within a layout the artist designed for the MMFA.

“The Museum is thrilled and honoured to present Allison Katz’s first major exhibition in Quebec and to highlight the talent of this Montreal-born artist. At once playful and deeply reflective, Allison Katz’s work explores the unconscious, coincidence and the complexities of identity,” says Mary-Dailey Desmarais, exhibition curator and the Zhao-Ionescu Chief Curator of the MMFA.

An exploration of human psyche, memory and materials

Drawing inspiration from such varied sources as art history, literature, psychoanalytic theory and popular culture, Katz has developed a unique visual vocabulary that explores the depths of the human psyche and the infinite possibilities of painting. For her, painting serves as a bridge between worlds: it unites autobiography and art history, humour and ambiguity, language and image, without ever being reduced to one single meaning. The gallery layout, conceived by Katz, eschews chronological order in favour of a network of visual and thematic connections that invites the public to reflect on how memory, coincidence and influences shape our identity. True to its title, the exhibition unfolds like a game, a play on perception and association. From one painting to the next, motifs metamorphose and take on new meaning. Figures become avatars, signatures and self-portraits. Doors and windows, canals and mouths: all offer passages between lived experience and the imagination.

Traces of Gradiva

A central figure in the exhibition is Gradiva, meaning “she who steps forward.” Gradiva is a fictional character created by the 19th century German author Wilhelm Jensen, which is based on a Roman bas-relief and had an inspirational influence on psychoanalytic literature and Surrealism. Under Katz’s brush, this character becomes a contemporary muse who crosses thresholds, interconnects paintings and reminds us that images, like memories, can always resurface in new forms. Referenced throughout the exhibition, Gradiva embodies this poetic thread and bears witness to art’s ability to sublimate memory while unleashing buried desires. In keeping with the character’s elusive nature, a painting of Gradiva has ventured outside the exhibition galleries. Visitors are invited to search for it in among the Museum’s permanent collection.

Allison Katz

Born in Montreal in 1980, Katz lives and works in London, UK. She holds a BFA from Concordia University and a Master of Fine Arts from Columbia University. Her work has been shown widely in Europe and North America. Most notably, it has been the subject of solo exhibitions at the Art Gallery of Ontario; Camden Art Centre, UK; Nottingham Contemporary, UK; MIT List Visual Arts Center, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and at Kunstverein Freiburg, Germany.

Her works have also been included in prestigious group exhibitions, such as the 59th Venice Biennale (2022) as well as at the Tate Modern and Hayward Gallery in London. In 2024, the artist curated a major exhibition at the Aspen Art Museum, in collaboration with the archeological park of Pompeii. Then, in the summer of 2025, Katz created a billboard for the High Line at 18th Street, in New York.