Painting gifted to France in Tory ‘act of cultural vandalism’ heralds Liberal cabinet swearing-in

If the new Liberal government wanted an art piece to send a message to the recently vanquished Conservatives, Riopelle's Point de rencontre would be the one, says Randy Boswell.

Because it’s an abstract work of art, the top portion of the Jean-Paul Riopelle masterpiece that formed the backdrop of Tuesday’s swearing-in of the new federal Liberal cabinet can be interpreted as a balled fist with just the middle finger thrust upward.

See it? Is it just me?

It’s unlikely that’s what Riopelle — one of Canada’s most renowned artists on the world stage — had in mind when he created the five-metre-wide Point de rencontre (Meeting Place) in 1963.

But it would explain why the painting, the largest ever executed by the late Montreal-born artist, was rushed into place on the front wall of the Rideau Hall Ballroom just a few days before Tuesday’s ceremony.

If the new Liberal government could have picked one oil-on-canvas on Earth to send a subtle, snarky message to the recently vanquished Conservatives — to add an artistic insult to the injury of the Liberal election victory that led to Tuesday’s unveiling of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s new cabinet — it would have been Point de rencontre.

Commissioned by the Liberal government of Lester B. Pearson in 1963 to celebrate Riopelle’s rising reputation in the art world, the painting was unveiled the following year at the Toronto International Airport, which was posthumously named for Pearson in 1984.

Before Tuesday’s ceremony, it had been 32 years since the artwork was last in the national spotlight. In 1989 it was at the centre of a transatlantic political controversy after then-Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney had it plucked from a wall at the Toronto airport and gifted to the people of France.

The grand gesture, meant to mark the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution and symbolize the close relationship between France and Canada, was instantly assailed by opposition critics and editorialists as a crime against Canadian heritage that typified what they considered the Progressive Conservative government’s dismissive attitude towards arts and culture.