The monthly appointment dedicated to the most interesting exhibitions and exhibition projects opening soon in Venice.
Modern Bodies: The Construction of the Body in Renaissance Venice: Leonardo, Michelangelo, Dürer, Giorgione at the Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
From April 4 to July 27, 2025, the Gallerie dell’Accademia in Venice will host the Modern Bodies: The Construction of the Body in Renaissance Venice exhibition. This captivating art display, curated by Giulio Manieri Elia, Guido Beltramini, and Francesca Borgo, delves into how the human body was represented during the Venetian Renaissance. For the first time in modern history, the body is examined as both a scientific subject and a medium for personal expression and desire.
Featured works in the exhibition include masterpieces by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, Titian, Giorgione, and Giovanni Bellini. Alongside these iconic art pieces, visitors will discover scientific tools, anatomical models, books, clothing, and everyday objects that reflect how the body was understood and portrayed during this period. The exhibition is organized into three thematic sections: “The Unveiled Body: Knowledge,” “The Naked Body: Desire,” and “The Constructed Body: Self-Representation.” These sections provide an in-depth view of how the human form was perceived and depicted in Renaissance Venice.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475 – 1564), Studies for the Libyan Sibyl, ca. 1510-11, red chalk and touches of white chalk on paper, 289 x 214 mm, New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Inv. 24.197.2
Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of a Space – Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice
From April 12 to September 15, 2025, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice will host the Maria Helena Vieira da Silva: Anatomy of a Space exhibition, a retrospective dedicated to the Portuguese-born French artist Maria Helena Vieira da Silva (1908–1992). Curated by Flavia Frigeri, art historian at the National Portrait Gallery in London, this art display presents approximately seventy works from renowned institutions worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, and Tate Modern in London, as well as galleries like Jeanne Bucher Jaeger in Paris and private collections.
This exhibition explores the evolution of Vieira da Silva’s artistic language, highlighting her unique ability to transform space into abstract environments and optical illusions. After its presentation in Venice, the exhibition will travel to the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao in the fall of 2025.
Composition, January 1936, oil on canvas, 105.3 x 161.5 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Maurizio Galimberti: Between Polaroids/Ready-Mades and Italo Calvino’s American Lectures at Le Stanze della Fotografia, Venice
From April 10 to August 10, 2025, Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice will host the exhibition Maurizio Galimberti: Between Polaroids/Ready-Mades and Italo Calvino’s American Lectures, curated by Denis Curti.
Internationally renowned for his portraits of celebrities such as Lady Gaga, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, and Umberto Eco, and for creating site-specific publications and exhibitions in cities like New York, Paris, Milan, Rome, and Venice, Maurizio Galimberti brings to Venice some of his most iconic Polaroid mosaics. Featured works include portraits of Johnny Depp, Barbara Bouchet, and Angelica Huston. The exhibition is divided into six sections: Cenacolo, History, Sport, Portraits, Taylor Swift, and Places.
Galimberti’s creations offer a fragmented and multi-faceted view of reality, breaking down and reconstructing images in a mosaic-like fashion. His works provide a deep reflection on perception and the multiplicity of perspectives. The photographs are often manipulated during the development process, where simple tools like pens and wooden sticks are used to apply pressure directly on the surface of the Polaroid film. Some of these pieces are assembled into mosaic compositions, with each individual photograph contributing to the final piece, which delivers a spectacular, unified vision.
Javier Bardem, lastra Polaroid, 2015, 70×98 cm.
By Maurizio Galimberti/Photomovie
Tatiana Trouvé – Palazzo Grassi, Venice
From April 6, 2025, to January 4, 2026, Palazzo Grassi, part of the Pinault Collection, will present a major exhibition dedicated to Franco-Italian artist Tatiana Trouvé. Curated by Caroline Bourgeois, Chief Curator at the Pinault Collection, and James Lingwood, independent curator and former co-director of Artangel, Tatiana Trouvé: The Strange Life of Things will be the largest solo exhibition of the artist’s work to date and her first major exhibition in Italy.
Designed in close collaboration with Trouvé, this exhibition transforms the spaces of Palazzo Grassi into a labyrinth of physical and imaginary environments, where objects and images create a dialogue between the past, present, and possible futures. The artworks, ranging from new creations to works from the last decade, invite visitors to explore both inner and outer worlds, weaving together dreams, memories, and visions in a continuous dialogue between reality and fiction.
Tatiana Trouvé, Il mondo delle voci, from the series Les dessouvenus, 2022.
1912-1930.
Il vetro di Murano e la Biennale di Venezia. Installation at Le Stanze del Vetro, Venezia, 2024. Photo Enrico Fiorese
1932-1942: Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale – Le Stanze del Vetro, Venice
From April 13 to November 23, 2025, Le Stanze del Vetro on the Island of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice will present the exhibition 1932-1942: Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale, curated by Marino Barovier. This exhibition marks the second chapter of a series focusing on the history of Murano glass at the Venice Biennale, from the inauguration of the Venice Pavilion in 1932 to the last edition before the interruption caused by World War II.
During this pivotal decade, Murano’s glass furnaces collaborated with artists and designers such as Carlo Scarpa, Flavio Poli, and Dino Martens. The exhibition showcases pieces characterized by bold color experiments and material innovation, including opaque glass works in vibrant tones, as well as large-scale pieces with intricate bubbles and gold leaf embellishments.
Thomas Schütte. Genealogie – Punta della Dogana, Venice
From April 6 to November 23, 2025, Punta della Dogana will host Thomas Schütte: Genealogie, the first major exhibition in Italy dedicated to the German artist. Curated by Camille Morineau and Jean-Marie Gallais, the exhibition explores key themes within Thomas Schütte’s major artworks, spanning from the 1970s to the present. The exhibition features sculptures, architectural models, photographs, drawings, and engravings, highlighting the artist’s meticulous exploration of the human figure, often portrayed in a caricatured and ironic manner, as well as the continuous evolution of his expressive language.
The exhibition, based on a core selection of nearly fifty sculptures from the Pinault Collection, is complemented by loans from the artist and approximately one hundred works on paper (many of which are previously unseen). It takes a non-chronological approach to examine the development of forms and their evolution, offering a unique journey that connects Schütte’s sculptural work with his practices in drawing, watercolor, and printmaking, revealing the multiple connections within his body of work.
Thomas Schütte, Efficiency Men, 2005