Artworks

Over the years, rue Panet has provided Little with a considerable amount of great material to paint. It is situated in what is today referred to as the Ville-Marie borough of Montreal, only a little bit east (technically north-east) of what one might call the 'downtown core'. It runs between René-Lévesque around the Radio-Canada Tower up to Sherbrooke Street at Lafontaine Park. The “bottom” of the street beginning quite close to the port suggests that it has its roots in blue collar residents. We have written elsewhere about Little’s foresight to paint what is known as then a 25-acre neighbourhood of Faubourg à m'lasse: 5000 people removed for the demolition to make way for the Radio-Canada, CBC tower and surrounding parking lots and what is the #720 expressway. These developments changed the complexion of the neighbourhood physically as well as the nature of its citizens. Rue Panet is geographically today part of what is known as Montreal’s Gay Village.

As an aside, according to the City of Montreal, the name Panet was designated to the street at the beginning of the 19th Century. Although there have been numerous families named Panet who had lived on the street, it is unresolved as to whom precisely the street is named after.