The Lips Mural

I don't live in Montreal anymore, and I wonder if this mural is still there. It seems to have been there in 2006 (see Flickr image below).

All I can find online is an article from 1998:

"Newcomers to Montreal always notice it; to lifetime Montrealers, it's ingrained in memory. At first it jumps out at you: you think it's some nice graffiti art and expect it will be gone next time you go by. But it never goes away, and over time it just blends into the background and you stop paying attention.

The art in question is, of course, the steamy lip mural behind Place des Arts, at the corner of Jeanne-Mance and Ontario. According to Montreal cartographer David Widgington, the mural has been up there for over 20 years. For that reason, Widgington decided to highlight the mural in his book Montreal Up Close: A Pedestrian's Guide to the City, co-authored with Kirk Johnson.

Explains Widgington: "It's supposed to be symbolic of the hot Montreal summer: red lips, mouth open and steam rising around the hot sun. It's in really good shape, considering how long it's been up there--it's not peeling or cracking at all." Unfortunately, says Widgington, his research failed to turn up some key information: exactly who painted it, for whom and the date it was completed all remain a mystery.

It was there in 1972, but I don't know how it got there either.

As for it being "symbolic of the hot Montreal summer", that is nonsense. As it was painted in c. 1971, the smoke is much more likely symbolic of something else entirely.

Of current works, these 4 seem to come up most often.