Patricia Li: An Art And Design Guide To Venice

Ever since my first visit to Venice as a teenager, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection has firmly remained a source of inspiration to me. The style icon and art philanthropist Peggy Guggenheim moved to Venice permanently in 1949, building an art collection which was to become this wonderful institution. Housed in the striking yet (many may not be aware) incomplete Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, a one-story structure originally intended as a grand five-story palace, it boasts masterpieces by Calder, Fontana, Picasso, Pollock and the like. I always make time for my favourite terrace in Venice, which offers one of the best views of the Grand Canal.

“Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector” from 25 April to 19 October 2026

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro 701

The crown jewel of art museums in Venice, it houses treasures of Renaissance masters including Bellini, Titian, Tiepolo, Tintoretto, and Veronese, along with Venice’s most important painters from the 13th to 17th centuries. It also boasts a beautiful collection of Canova sculptures. An added benefit of visiting this storied institution during the Art Biennale is to experience its highly-anticipated special exhibition of contemporary art, designed to coincide with the occasion.

“Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy” from 6 May to 19 October 2026

Calle della Carità 105

These two have long been fixtures on my list of must-visit institutions for contemporary art in Venice since they opened. As part of the Pinault Collection, which requires no introduction, Palazzo Grassi was transformed by Japanese architect Tadao Ando’s minimalist reimagination from a 18th-century palazzo into its current form in 2005; Punta della Dogana, the former customs house strategically located at the entrance to the Grand Canal, opened as an additional space for the Collection in 2009 after a 14-month restoration also led by Ando.

Palazzo Grassi: “Michael Armitage. The Promise of Change” from 29 March 2026 to 10 January 2027

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Punta della Dogana: “Lorna Simpson. Third Person” and “Paulo Nazareth. Algebra” from 29 March to 22 November 2026

Dorsoduro 2

Possibly the most anticipated opening in Venice this season, this new foundation established by Belgian fashion legend Dries Van Noten and his partner Patrick Vangheluwe brings together established and emerging voices across art, design, fashion, architecture, food, and beyond. Set in the historic 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta, the inaugural exhibition, curated by Dries Van Noten with Geert Bruloot, explores beauty as a catalyst for intensity, provocation, and transformation through over 200 objects of fashion, jewellery, art, design, photography, glass, and ceramics, each amplifying the other in a prismatic Wunderkammer.

“The Only True Protest is Beauty” from 25 April to 4 October 2026

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Sister to the OMA-designed Milanese location, Fondazione Prada’s Venetian outpost can be found in Ca’ Corner della Regina, a crumbling 18th-century Baroque palazzo. The bold, contemporary, and innovative programming of contemporary art is juxtaposed by the symmetrical staircases, elegant Istrian stone façade, and frescoed porteghi.

“Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard Prince” from 9 May to 23 November 2026

Calle Corner 2215

Palazzo Fortuny carries the unmistakable imprint of Mariano Fortuny, the Spanish‑born polymath who made Venice his creative sanctuary at the turn of the 20th century. With style worthy of Arabian Nights sultans, his once home and atelier was restored and transformed by Fortuny and his partner Henriette Nigrin into a thriving creative hub for theatrical design and fabric printing. The museum preserves this layered richness of his artistic legacy, displaying art, antiques and decor from Fortuny’s highly personal and idiosyncratic collection, including the iconic Delphos dresses, a trompe l’oeil wall cycle of an enchanted garden, and his famed costumes for theatrical productions, as well as precious objects, curiosities and rare books.

“Erwin Wurm. Dreamers” from 6 May to 22 November 2026

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Procuratie Vecchie – the multi-layered, arch-lined building flanking Piazza San Marco  – was recently refurbished by David Chipperfield. The former residence of San Marco Prosecutors has reopened as an art centre, marking the first public access to the landmark’s upper floors in five centuries. Spanning 1,000 square metres across sixteen galleries, with restored marmorino walls, terrazzo floors, and exposed timber beams, the co-founders – Anna Bursaux, David Gramazio, and David Hrankovic – hope to run this multi-disciplinary culture centre in a way that, in their words, is “spontaneous” and “experimental”.

“Alighiero Boetti” from 7 May to 22 November 2026; and “Lee Ufan” from 9 May to 22 November 2026

Piazza San Marco 105

Visionary contemporary artist Anish Kapoor, renowned for making sculptural objects on an architectural scale, found a Venetian home for his own foundation in Palazzo Manfrin, a 16th-century landmark in Cannaregio. Opening to the public this year for the second time since its establishment in 2022, Kapoor will present architectural models and sculptures from the past 50 years — both realised and unrealised — that testify to his monumental engagement with space.

“Anish Kapoor: Palazzo Manfrin” from 5 May to 8 August 2026

Fondamenta Venier, Cannaregio 342

The new home and the third location of Italian art collector Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo’s foundation, the once-abandoned Isola di San Giacomo in Venice’s northern lagoon reemerges as a cultural hub with a focus on ecological reflection, a place for producing artistic projects, hosting research and discussions on art, music, cinema, theatre, and contemporary culture. The inaugural project weaves together exhibitions, performances and site-specific installations conceived specifically for the new lagoon space.

“Fanfare/Lament: Matt Copson” and “Don’t have hope, be hope!”

San Giacomo in Paludo

Art collector and philanthropist Nicolas Berggruen’s foundation has found its Venetian home in Palazzo Diedo, an extensively renovated building adorned with 18th- and 19th-century frescoes and stucco. It debuted as an exhibition space in 2024 to deepen the connection between contemporary art and the past, and between the East and the West. Among the artists who created site-specific and permanent interventions to the space are Urs Fischer, Carsten Höller, Mariko Mori, Sterling Ruby, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Lee Ufan, to name but a few.

“Strange Rules” and “Unfinished: Ceal Floyer” from 4 May to 22 November 2026

Fondamenta Diedo, Cannaregio 2386

Another contemporary art centre helmed by a collector is AMA Venezia. Housed in a former soap factory hidden among the streets of Cannaregio, it is the brainchild of Laurent Asscher who prefers to showcase his top-tier collection surrounded by industrial rawness, as a reflection of AMA’s mission to be a vibrant space that fosters discovery and dialogue.

“Aura” from 5 May to 22 November 2026

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Discreetly tucked beneath the colonnades of the Procuratie Vecchie in Piazza San Marco, the Olivetti Showroom may be easily overlooked. However, those in the know seek out this compact architectural gem design by the modernist genius Carlo Scarpa. Scarpa added key spatial interventions, including the signature staircase which seemingly suspends in midair, each tread uniquely shaped and sized, and flanked by suspended upper galleries that house vintage Olivetti machines and small office nooks.

“Hybrids. Leandro Erlich at the Negozio Olivetti” from 9 May to 22 November 2026

Piazza San Marco, 101

 61st Venice Biennale “In Minor Keys”, will be on view from 9 May to 22 November 2026 at the Arsenale and Giardini. Additional national pavilions can be found at satellite venues all around Venice.