Germain Bergeron’s sculpture at Monk metro station, entitled Pic et Pelle, pays homage to all the construction workers who contributed to building the metro system.
The artist had originally been comissioned to creacte a piece that would commemorate those who lost their lives during the construction of the metro system. 14 workers were killed on the job between 1962 and 1967, during the construction of the original 26 stations (source: stm)
3 comments
Note the very lame concrete posts to prevent cleaning machine collisions. Probably not designed by the artist…
This is a great tribute to those workers who made beauty from earth.
PS, I think those concrete bumps provide a transition between the wonderfully figurative abstraction and the hard reality of floors and people.
Aside from the Champ-de-Mars métro station by Marcelle Ferron, these two figures are my favourite art in the métro system. Absolutely beautiful, towering, and made from recycled lamp posts too… who’d have thunk?
The posts were added not for the cleaning machines but to prevent people from walking into the sculptures — they originally had used that excuse to ask for knee pads (like, what?). See http://www.stm.info/info/infostm/2003/031028.pdf