Art Pursuits 2022 brochure

ITALY
LA BIENNALE DI VENEZIA
Milk of Dreams
Corderie dell'Arsenale
The Venice Art Biennale is the world’s largest and longest-running exhibition of contemporary art. Taking place every
two years, it attracts millions of visitors as well as artists, curators and dealers from across the world. Its main Pavilions
are set in the Giardini della Biennale, the gardens originally created by Napoleon on the eastern part of Castello, and
in the Corderie dell’Arsenale, the vast area of the Arsenale originally used by the ship-builders of the Serenissima to
make ropes for its navy. With now over 90 countries represented, many Pavilions are also found across the city in
many palazzi and museums. But the history and presence of modern and contemporary art in Venice go well beyond
the Biennale exhibitions. Throughout the 20th-Century Venice has been a focal point for art patrons and collectors,
brilliantly combining the new forms with the cultural heritage of the city into a unique and vibrant art scene. Peggy
Guggenheim made the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal her home, now housing her most celebrated
collection. She bought artworks around Europe and America in the first half of the 20th-Century, discovering artists
such as Pollock and collecting pieces by Picasso, Kandinsky, Duchamp, Klee, and Magritte among others, in a collection
embracing cubism, surrealism and abstract expressionism. More recently, the French businessman and art collector
Francois Pinault established his own exhibition space in the splendid setting of Punta della Dogana, the former customs
building of Venice, renovated by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, a powerful rehabilitation of the setting in constant
interaction with the work of artists, curators and the international art world. Join our guest lecturer Ben Street on this
new tour as we discover the best and the latest in contemporary art at the Venice Biennale and the parallel exhibitions
taking place in museums across the city, embedded in the tradition and charm of Venice’s unique artistic heritage.
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To book call 01280 736 115 or visit artpursuits.com