The first works of art are acquired with a view to establishing the Musée de la province, the first museum founded by the government of Québec.

Construction of the first building, opened to the public on 5June 1933. The Musée housed the Archives du Québec, natural sciences collections and a fine arts collection.

The natural sciences collections leave the Musée.

The institution takes the name Musée du Québec in 1963, one year after the departure of the natural sciences collections.

The exhibitionTutankhamun Treasuresis wildly successful with the public.

The Archives de la province (today the Archives du Québec) are moved to Université Laval.

The National Museums Act transforms the Musée into a crown corporation. Its collection is now made up solely of works of art.

Renovation and implementation of modern museum standards. The exhibition Paintingsby French Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masters from the Soviet Union attracts 135,000visitors in six weeks.

The Musée carries out a major expansion, including the incorporation of the former prison. It now has three pavilions with twelve exhibition galleries, storerooms, workshops of various kinds, an auditorium, a restaurant and a boutique.

Creation of a sculpture garden, which today holds 15 large-format contemporary works produced by Québec and international artists.

The Musée acquires Jean Paul Riopelle’s masterly painting L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg (Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg).

The Musée is lit up at night under the lighting plan of the Commission de la capitale nationale du Québec.

Following adoption of Bill 125 by the National Assembly, the Musée du Québec takes the name Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec. Admission to galleries displaying the Musée’s collection becomes free of charge at all times.

In London, the Musée acquires watercolours by Benjamin Fisher. These valuable works depicting Québec were discovered at Oxford’s Balliol College.

The Musée publishes a new guide to illustrate every part of its collection, A History of Art in Quebec: The Collection du Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

The collector Raymond Brousseau, with the collaboration of Hydro-Québec, donates 2,635works of Inuit art to the Musée, a one-of-a-kind collection in the world.

The new permanent gallery devoted entirely to Inuit art, The Brousseau Collection of Inuit Art – Hydro-Québec Gallery, is inaugurated.

The exhibition The Baroque World of Fernando Botero meets with great success.

The governments of Canada and Québec announce their financial participation in the expansion project of the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

The Musée presents the major exhibitionThe Louvre in Québec, co-produced with the Musée du Louvre in Paris to mark the 400th anniversary of Québec City. Some 465,000 people view the exhibition.

An international architecture competition is launched for the creation of a new pavilion for the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec.

Following an international architecture competition, the concept of the firm OMA (Office for Metropolitan Architecture), in partnership with Provencher Roy et Associés, architectes, is selected for the Musée’s expansion.

A bequest by Madeleine P. Pelland makes the Musée the leading repository of works by Alfred Pellan (1,630 works of art and art objects as well as the Madeleine and Alfred Pellan Archive).

Excavation begins for the new pavilion of the Musée.

Construction work begins on the Pierre Lassonde pavilion.

June 24, 2016: the Pierre Lassonde pavilion opens its Doors on the Grande Allée

Beginning of work to update the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion, the building that was originally the MNBAQ museum complex.

Reopening of the Gérard-Morisset Pavilion and redeployment of the collections on the occasion of the museum's 85th anniversary.

Record of achalange for the exhibition Miró in Mallorca. A free spirit.

A year under the sign of adaptation: the Covid-19 pandemic force the preventive closure of the Museum twice and disrupte the exhibition calendar for several years.

The extended closures are an opportunity to accentuate the digital shift that has been underway for several years. In particular, the MNBAQ is launching its educational platform L'art dans ma classe.

The MNBAQ presented exhibitions devoted to two major artists, William Turner and Pablo Picasso.

In December, the Québec government announced its financial contribution to the Riopelle Space, a pavilion devoted to the work of painter Jean Paul Riopelle funded by the Riopelle Foundation that will receive a major gift of works from Michael J. Audain.

Collectors Michael Audain and Yoshiko Karasawa donated eight outstanding paintings by Paul-Émile Borduas to the MNBAQ that not only represent one of the biggest donations to the MNBAQ but are of inestimable artistic value. They were presented in 2022 in a unique exhibition, Latent Energies.