2023 $2 coin marking the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of Jean Paul Riopelle
The Royal Canadian Mint is issuing a new $2 coin marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of Jean Paul Riopelle, one of Canada’s most influential artists of the mid-20th century.
The coin showcases a section of Panel 29 from Riopelle’s monumental fresco, L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg, featuring acrylic and spray-painted silhouettes, including the emblematic birds seen on this coin.
The 40-metre-wide triptych consists of 30 separate panels rife with natural imagery and coded symbolism and is on permanent exhibition at Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec in Quebec City.
The mural, created at Riopelle’s studio on Ile-aux-Oies, an island in the St. Lawrence River near Quebec City, features the recurring theme of bird-like silhouettes, two of which appear on the reverse of the coin. The coloured version of the coin captures the original colours of this masterpiece. The obverse of the coin features the effigy of Queen Elizabeth II by Susanna Blunt. The coin starts circulating just weeks before the National Gallery of Canada opens the large exhibition, Riopelle: Crossroads in Time. The exhibition runs from Oct. 27 until April 7, 2024
The last artist to be honoured on a coin was B.C.’s Bill Reid in 2020, on a $2 commemorative circulation coin issued in conjunction with the 100th anniversary of his birth.
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