The Biennale opened in 1895 with a nude-painting scandal and 224,000 visitors. Since then it has survived 1968’s riot police, added the Arsenale in 1980, and now proceeds into 2026 without the curator who conceived it.
venice-biennale
The bottles Giorgio Morandi refused to let anyone dust
For three decades Morandi painted the same small group of jars and boxes in a Bologna flat, teaching etching by day. His prize at the 1948 Venice Biennale brought the reclusive painter belated recognition.