Canada just got a new toonie honouring an influential artist and it's captivating (PHOTOS)
Check your change for an artistic masterpiece this fall — you could be holding Canada’s latest coin design.
The Royal Canadian Mint has just unveiled a new $2 circulation coin celebrating the 100th anniversary of legendary Canadian visual artist Jean-Paul Riopelle.
“On the 100th anniversary of Jean-Paul Riopelle’s birth, we are delighted to issue a commemorative circulation coin honouring him as one of our greatest artists, whose talent and vision influenced a dynamic period in global artistic expression and touched admirers of his work and fellow artists in Canada and around the world,” said Marie Lemay, president and CEO of the Royal Canadian Mint, in a statement.
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Known as one of Canada’s and the world’s most influential artists in the mid-20th century, Riopelle’s art is distinguished by his abstract painting style.
Born in Montreal on October 7, 1923, Riopelle demonstrated his artistic talents from an early age. He studied briefly at the École des Beaux-arts de Montréal before graduating from the École du Meuble in 1945.
He later moved to Paris in 1947 and became the only Canadian whose work was presented at the fifth International Exhibition of Surrealism staged at Galerie Maeght, an important moment in the history of the artistic movement.
Over his roughly 45-year career, his work was featured in more than 200 group or solo
exhibitions in art capitals all over the world.
Among other accolades, Riopelle represented Canada at the 1962 Venice Biennale and received a UNESCO Prize.
He was also the recipient of the 1958 Guggenheim International Award and was made a Companion of the Order of Canada, as well as a grand officer of the National Order of Quebec.
Riopelle died on March 12, 2002, in Isles-aux-Grues, Quebec.
The design
The artwork on the toonie’s reverse (tails) side is a section of Riopelle’s acrylic and spray paint 1993 masterpiece: “L’Hommage à Rosa Luxemburg.”
The Royal Canadian Mint
According to the Mint, the original painting is a 40-metre-wide triptych consisting of 30 separate panels with natural imagery and coded symbolism.
You get a glimpse of the masterpiece through bird-like silhouettes on the tails of the circulation coin.
There’s a captivating coloured version of the coin which shows the original colours of the artwork.
The Royal Canadian Mint
How can you collect the coin?
The toonie is limited to a mintage of three million coins, of which two million will be coloured. As of today, it has already begun circulating.
There are two ways you can collect the coin.
The first is the organic way — waiting for it to appear in your change as bank branches and businesses replenish their inventories of toonies.
Can’t wait for it to circulate into your hands?
The coloured and uncoloured circulation coins are also available as collectibles in a
seven-piece Collector Keepsake coin set.
Other collector products in celebration of Riopelle include:
• Coloured and uncoloured special wrap rolls of 25 uncirculated coins each
• A 1 oz pure gold engraved version of the circulation coin design, crafted of gold
sourced exclusively from Quebec mines
• A 2 oz Extraordinarily High Relief $200 Pure Gold Coin featuring Riopelle’s 1970
sculpture Petit hibou, also exclusively crafted from Quebec-sourced gold
Starting today, you can order these collectibles by contacting the Mint at 1-800-267-1871 or ordering online here.
They are also available at the Royal Canadian Mint’s Ottawa and Winnipeg boutiques and through the Mint’s global network of dealers and distributors, including participating Canada Post outlets.
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