11 MICHAEL AUDAIN

CHAIR, AUDAIN FOUNDATION, POLYGON HOMES PREVIOUSLY # 20,2017 – —

Michael Audain continues to reign as a benevolent Renaissance prince of Vancouver: a gracious man who made his money through real estate development at Polygon, now on a mission to showcase his awe-inspiring art collection. Audain’s Whistler gallery, a unique building designed by the Patkau team of architects to display his Indigenous and modern art pieces, won an American Institute of Architecture award this year. His recently opened Polygon Gallery in North Vancouver will be a major draw there. He made headlines this year as the reputed saviour of a Chagall painting at threat of being lost from the National Gallery of Canada by paying the auction fees charged for cancelling the sale. And he’s said to be exploring a new art venture—a foundation, with the Desmarais family, that will celebrate the work of Québécois painter Jean-paul Riopelle, someone whose work Audain has collected extensively.