Venice 2026: Spring Art Exhibitions

Venice and Art: A Guide to the 2026 Spring Season

Every spring, Venice enters the most intense period of its artistic calendar. In anticipation of the opening of the Venice Biennale, the 61st International Art Exhibition titled “In Minor Keys” takes center stage, curated by the late Koyo Kouoh. Furthermore, museums, foundations, and historic palaces are inaugurating some of the season’s most captivating exhibitions, transforming the city into a vast itinerary of contemporary art, photography, and painting.

This Biennale breaks with the muscular narratives of the past. Kouoh—who passed away prematurely in May 2025—left an invitation to return art to its most intimate and intentional dimension. It is the song of those who generate beauty despite tragedy, the melody of fugitives emerging from ruins to mend wounds and worlds.

The program this year is particularly rich: from the monumental installations of Anish Kapoor to the major retrospective dedicated to Marina Abramović, the intense paintings of Jenny Saville, and the portraits of Amoako Boafo in the Renaissance halls of Palazzo Grimani. Alongside these contemporary protagonists, Venice also hosts elegant photography exhibitions, such as the one dedicated to Horst P. Horst, and conceptual projects by artists like Joseph Kosuth, which refocus on the relationship between language, imagery, and space.

To help you navigate the many inaugurations this season, we at Casa al Carmine, in collaboration with FLarte, have selected 18 must-see exhibitions, including those already open and upcoming highlights. This is your quick guide to discovering what to see in Venice this spring, taking advantage of one of the culturally richest moments of the year.

Exhibitions to See Now

1. Paper Design: In collaboration with the Venice Academy of Fine Arts Ca’ Pesaro | Until April 12 Paper ceases to be a support and becomes a structure. An extreme experimentation conducted among Venetian universities investigating cellulose as a plastic material capable of generating ephemeral architectures.www.capesaro.visitmuve.it

2. Tintoretto tells the story of Genesis: Research, Analysis, and Restoration Gallerie dell’Accademia | Until June 7 The return of “Il Furioso.” A selection of canvases dedicated to the Genesis cycle, recently restored, reflecting Tintoretto’s narrative ferocity and dramatic use of light. www.gallerieaccademia.it

3. Luciana Cicogna: Works 2012–2025 Palazzetto Tito (Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa) | Until March 29 An anthology showcasing the last decade of Luciana Cicogna’s research, where abstraction is a rigorous construction of matter and color in dialogue with Venetian tradition (Free admission). www.bevilacqualamasa.it

4. Horst P. Horst: The Geometry of Grace Le Stanze della Fotografia – San Giorgio Island | Until July 5 A manual of absolute elegance. Horst P. Horst defined 20th-century formal perfection, where the human body and fashion become architecture. www.lestanzedellafotografia.it

5. Ahmet Ertuğ: Reflections of Architecture Le Stanze della Fotografia – San Giorgio Island | Until April 4 Ertuğ’s monumental photography inhabits spaces. From historic libraries to theaters, his images capture the silence of the world’s great architectures. www.lestanzedellafotografia.it

6. Bizhan Bassiri: Principe Museo Correr | Until November 1 Bassiri’s “magmatic thought” collides with Correr’s Neoclassical solemnity. Primordial forms and bronze meteorites occupy the Imperial Rooms.www.correr.visitmuve.it

March Openings

7. Etruscans and Veneti: Waters, Cults, and Sanctuaries Doge’s Palace | March 6 – September 27 An archaeological investigation in the Doge’s Apartments exploring the mystical link between pre-Roman civilizations and water. The history of Venice before Venice. www.palazzoducale.visitmuve.it

8. Joseph Kosuth: The Exchange Value of Language Has Fallen to Zero Casa dei Tre Oci – Giudecca | March 28 – November 22 The father of conceptual art returns. Kosuth reopens the Casa dei Tre Oci with a brutal semantic intervention involving text, neon, and installations. www.treoci.org

9. Jenny Saville: First Major Monographic Exhibition Ca’ Pesaro | March 28 – November 22 Flesh becomes monumental painting. Saville occupies Ca’ Pesaro with bodies that challenge beauty canons, exploring the power of human physicality. www.capesaro.visitmuve.it

10. Lorna Simpson & Paulo Nazareth: Third Person + Algebra Punta della Dogana | March 29 – November 23 The Pinault Collection presents two radical voices of the contemporary diaspora deconstructing identity and colonial memory. www.pinaultcollection.com

11. Michael Armitage & Amar Kanwar: The Promise of Change + Co-travellers Palazzo Grassi | March 29 – November 23 A dialogue between Armitage’s dreamlike painting and Kanwar’s poetic cinema, exploring visual resistance and political narratives. www.pinaultcollection.com

April and May

12. Dayanita Singh: Archivio State Archives of Venice | April 17 – July 31 A site-specific project where Singh’s photography infiltrates the endless shelves of the Frari, turning paper memory into a living organism.www.archiviodistatovenezia.it

13. Patrick Saytour: The Fold and Time Palazzo Vendramin Grimani | April 18 – November 22 The historical figure of the Supports/Surfaces movement deconstructs the painting within the Golden Tree Foundation.www.fondazionealberodoro.org

14. Peggy Guggenheim in London Peggy Guggenheim Collection | April 25 – September 14 A focus on the crucial 18 months Peggy spent in London (1938-1939), revealing the genesis of her world-changing vision.www.guggenheim-venice.it

15. Anish Kapoor Palazzo Manfrin | May 5 – November 22 The void, visceral red, and pure pigment. The Kapoor Foundation in Cannaregio presents monumental installations challenging gravity and perception.www.anishkapoor.com

16. Marina Abramović: Transforming Energy Gallerie dell’Accademia | May 6 – November 22 A historic event at the Gallerie. The pioneer of performance art invites the public to a spiritual interaction through “Transitory Objects.” www.gallerieaccademia.it

17. Amoako Boafo Palazzo Grimani Museum | May 6 – November 22 The Italian debut of the Ghanaian painter brings vibrant color to the Venetian Renaissance through his signature finger-painting technique.www.museogrimani.cultura.gov.it

18. 61st Venice Art Biennale: In Minor Keys Giardini and Arsenale | May 6 – November 22 The center of it all. Guided by Koyo Kouoh, the 2026 Biennale explores fragile narratives and melodies of those repairing the world from ruins. www.labiennale.org

Stay at Casa al Carmine: safety, elegance, and the Padua station just a few steps away to reach Venice with total freedom.

BOOK YOUR STAY NOW!