This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1976 Summer Olympics, held in Montreal, an event that contributed (along with Expo ’67) to the city’s patchwork architecture and its reputation as a very cool city for design, bell-bottom pants, and top athletes.
To mark the occasion, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts has curated a selection of its works inspired by or depicting sports, marked with stickers throughout its exhibitions.
ON THE TRACK! at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
On display will beThe Diver andThe Relay Runner by Robert Tait McKenzie (1867–1938), theHM6 Goalie Face Guardby George A. Lynn (1941–1983), and TheDryden bySerge Lemoyne (1941–1998).
Highlights and Challenges of the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal—an exhibition not to be missed at the McCord Stewart Museum
In true Montreal tradition, the lawns in front of the Olympic Village were almost entirely covered with half-dressed people, eyes closed and turned toward the warm summer sun, during the 1976 Olympics. The photos scrolling across a screen feature the vibrant colors of the Olympic rainbow and come from the vast archival collection of the McCord Stewart Museum. One would give almost anything to spend a week (or a month) poring over them…
In the meantime, you can’t help but be fascinated by the exceptionally cool graphics, vintage photos, the very biting caricatures of Jean Drapeau, and the magazines created by artists for the 1976 Summer Olympics, held for the first time and with great fanfare in Montreal.
The exhibition is titledMontreal 1976: An Olympic Eventand opened on March 17, 2026, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the controversial event, which was unanimously hailed as both a horror and a global success.
For more info, click here.Practical Information – ON THE TRACK!
Where? Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 1380 Sherbrooke Street West
When? June 15 to October 12, 2026, throughout the museum / works are identified by a special sticker
How much? $31 for ages 26 and up, $15.50 on Wednesday evenings, free for ages 25 and under, members of Indigenous communities, and people with disabilities and their companions