Un Ospite di Venezia - Maggio 2023 numero 5

ART GALLERY
A TREASURE TO DISCOVER
Venice, the city of art par excellence, presents endless possibilities for discovery,
from large museum collections to galleries, once an almost exclusive space for
artists, critics and enthusiasts, but nowadays also sought by the public, increasingly
wishing to approach artistic knowledge.
Here is an ideal itinerary for our reader, taking us from a prestigious public collection
to two of the most well-known Venetian galleries.
Let us start from Ca’Pesaro, a splendid
palace overlooking the Grand
Canal, a masterpiece of Venetian
Baroque architecture, now home to
the International Gallery of Modern
Art, and part of the town’s City Museums
heritage .
Located in the district of San Polo,
less than ten minutes away from the
two key centres of Rialto and the
train Station, Ca’ Pesaro offers the opportunity
to admire one of the most
beautiful collections of artworks in
town, created on the occasion of the
second edition of the Biennale and
shown at the Ca’ Pesaro venues (it
was 1902) thanks to a donation of
duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa.
Over the years, its heritage has been
enriched with artworks by Italian and European masters, including masterpieces such as The Thinker by
Auguste Rodin and Judith II by Gustave Klimt.
Today there is another opportunity for visiting the Gallery: the recently bequeathed donation by Gemma
De Angelis Testa. It is one of the most important donations received by the museum, both in extent
and quality, consisting of a hundred works by figureheads of the contemporary art scene: from Rauschenberg
and Twombly to Pistoletto and Calzolari; passing through Kiefer, De Dominicis, Clemente,
Cucchi, Schifano, up to the other half of avant-garde with Abramovic, Beecroft, Hofer, Mori, Neshat.
The patroness’s taste regarding choices and circuits commence from the middle of the past century,
and develop a continuous dialogue with Armando Testa’s production, represented by 17 masterpieces
within the collection.
From Ca’ Pesaro towards Rialto, this iconic Seventeenth-century bridge is soon reached, from where
lovely views on both banks of the Grand Canal may be admired.
On stepping down from it we head towards Campo San Salvador and then San Luca square, entering
Calle dei Fuseri from the latter. After crossing the bridge and bearing right, Campo San Fantin square is
reached after a few metres.
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