Trees, a permanent mural by Swiss artist Nicolas Party, is on display at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) from June 9, 2026, offering Party’s interpretation of stunning views of a warm-toned forest. The care his work takes with natural imagery speaks to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of Life on Land.
Nicholas Party is known for, according to his profile on gallery Hauser & Wirth’s website, “unsettling landscapes, portraits, and still lifes” that stand up against conventional representations of objects and scenes. That is evident in his previous work in ‘Polychrome’, with creative depictions of human bodies, incorporating an array of colours, from deep blues to lilacs to bright oranges. In Party’s greater body of work, he warps normal objects and people into more abstracted and biomorphic shapes, in what he describes as a “universe of fantastical characters and motifs.”
Trees fits into the rest of his work. Working in deep shades of red, orange, green, and blue, this piece is perhaps less abstract. It still, however, plays with realism, focusing mostly on shadow and colour rather than building out the landscape in detail. The result is a bright and eye-catching backdrop, making the MMFA’s second-floor lounge area into an exhibit of its own.
Following Party’s “carte blanche” or ‘blank check’ given to him by the MMFA to create freely, he celebrates Fall’s changing colours. The mural both seems to come from a contemplation of the beauty surrounding Montreal’s Autumn season and an invitation to MMFA visitors to consider the beauty of their natural landscapes.
Party finds himself inspired by natural landscapes in Trees. The work encourages viewers to pay attention to how nature is just as beautiful as any exhibition at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.