The location of this work is a view toward the Montreal Museum of Fine Art’s facade of the original Sherbrooke Street building, designed by Edward & William Maxwell for the Art Association of Montreal and opened in 1912.

“Museum Girls” is an exceptional study for a large format painting in the Ottawa Art Gallery. We have written at length about Surrey’s interest in the human figure, his concern, maybe even a phobia, about traffic, cars, and the vulnerability of pedestrians as well as suggested that these crosswalks represent a zone where his pedestrians are safe from the threat of vehicles. It is notable here that the pedestrians are in fact walking against a red light and that his figure in the lime coloured dress is signaling halt to oncoming traffic.