Venice Biennale Preview - Ca' Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna - Jenny Saville at Ca' Pesaro

“This exhibition marks Jenny Saville’s return to Venice, a city she loves, has visited many times, and is rich in the work of the old Venetian masters that she has studied for many years. It is a huge honour to show Jenny Saville’s masterpieces at Ca’ Pesaro."
Elisabetta Barisoni

Biennale Preview

Ca' Pesaro - Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna

Jenny Saville at Ca' Pesaro

In the year of the Biennale Arte -  at Ca’ Pesaro -  Jenny Saville at Ca' Pesaro - until November. 22 - curated by Elisabetta Barisoni -  is the first major exhibition of Saville’s work in Venice and documents the development of her work by tracing her career from her beginnings in the 1990’s to the present day.

"Venice represents a place where art is an intrinsic part of everyday life and where the Biennale artists of today sit in dialogue with these great Venetian artworks. It’s a great honor to have the opportunity to exhibit in Venice."

Born in 1970 in Cambridge, Jenny Saville studied at the Glasgow School of Art and spent time in the United States, shaping her early work.  Her paintings began to explore the human body, addressing social taboos and contemporary debates. In America, she was influenced by artists like Willem de Kooning and Cy Twombly. Her work also engages with art history, from Egon Schiele to Pablo Picasso and Titian. Venetian painting strongly influences her use of color and texture. Rather than nostalgic, these references deepen her exploration of the body and painting today.

Jenny Saville

Saville - generationally part of the group of painters and sculptors who made their mark between the late 1980s and early 1990s—often referred to as the Young British Artists - YBA - they revitalized contemporary figurative painting by reengaging with the sensualities and the raw potential of oil, while also raising questions about society’s perception of the body.  Over time, her work has evolved. The great monumental nudes of the 1990s, are joined in Venice by portraits that achieve great effects of light and color, such as Hyphen - above - a double-portrait of Saville and her sister.

Hyphen - 1999

Rosetta II - 2005-06

Gaze - 2021-24

Curator and Director of Ca' Pesaro -  Elisabetta Barisoni - MUVE General Manager - Mattia Agnetti - MUVE President - Mariacristina Gribaudi

Song of Songs - 2022-23

Recent works by Jenny Saville explore themes of war and collective grief.  Her Pietàs, inspired by contemporary images, present suffering as a universal human experience. Rooted in classical tradition, they carry intense emotional power.  These paintings avoid consolation, confronting the raw reality of the body. Saville continues to push painting to its expressive limits.

Pieta - 2020-21

 

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London - Royal Academy - Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First

The rebel painter of the British art world.

Royal Academy 

Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First

At the RA - Royal Academy on London's Piccadilly, the exhibition - Rose Wylie - The Picture Comes First - until April 19.   Rose Wylie OBE RA - 1934, Kent - is one of the most celebrated artists working in Britain today. This exhibition brings together Rose Wylie’s most iconic works alongside new and unseen paintings, marking her largest show to date. Now 92 years old, she remains incredibly cool and modern, with a style that feels fresh and relevant. Her art blends cinema, history and personal memory—including the Blitz—often featuring women like Elizabeth I, Marilyn Monroe and Serena Williams. Starting her career in her fifties, she has become a true cultural icon, creating bold, playful works that capture life’s small, funny and touching moments.

Park Dogs and Air Raids - 2017

“I think the war probably had something to do with it, because it was a kind of exciting moment, from the point of view of bombs coming down, and air raids and stuff. From a child’s point of view, that was quite special, quite unusual… I wasn’t really frightened, because it was going on all the time – that was what it was.”

Early Memory Series No. 2: Doodle Bug - 1998

Black Doodlebug - 2022

"I like stuff that goes across time, through trans-temporality, or whatever you want to call it. And I very much like cultures which were excluded from my art education when I was a student. They literally didn’t exist in that education. It was all determined exclusion." 

In this horse painting with labelled parts, Rose Wylie playfully mocks her traditional art-school training at Folkestone and Dover School of Art in the 1950s. Moving beyond strict anatomy and technique, she developed a freer style inspired by a wider range of influences.

Irreverant Anatomy Drawing - 2017

"...relating to 'now', as to 'appearance' and 'look' of women as far as clothes go, I like skirts, they allow for something to paint - fun for where you paint the 

legs sticking out - they can break restricting idea of 

'correct' anatomy and can call for invention..."

RW Party Clothes  (Rose Wylie) - 2016

Reclining Figure - 2010

 "I started with a drawing of the hand, and them I did an ink painting of the drawing.    And then an oil painting of all three stages in six feet across each canvas and it became a kind of a statement that drawing for me is important."

HAND, Drawing as Central - 2022

Wylie explained why she painted the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, whose highly publicised 1963 divorce case was made into a television series in 2021: “It’s not because she’s the Duchess, I don’t paint kings and queens because of their status, but because I like their outfits. In this case, the three-strand pearl necklace caught my attention. Through this object the Duchess was identified in the sex act she was engaged in with another man. It caused her to lose the divorce case… And in the end, it’s about money. Marrying for money, which is often disastrous… The text underscores the fact that the paparazzi are photographing them, that people are saying, “Oh, that’s a handsome couple”. Not that they are, they are “generally thought to be”.”

A Handsome Couple - 2022

" I like Ingres portraits more than his other stuff: as are Goya's marvellous 'black-frocked' and 'white-frocked' Duchess of Alba, and the pin-eyed Queen."

Countess of Altimara in Pale Pink and White-Frock and Daughter - 2016

"I love chance. Chance is like the break in the dotted line. 

Anything that is out of control, I like."

‘Politics and other issues are often there, if you see it like that - some of my paintings have been called ‘mediated political: But that is not what they are about. I see a good photo in the paper (or television news) and use it for its visual/formal qualities, not the politics. The politics is why it’s in the newspaper.’ 

Pink Skater (Will I Win, Will I Win) - 2015

Wylie appreciates the optical drama and contrast in the work of specific directors, such as Quentin Tarantino, as revealed by her paintings ‘Kill Bill (Film Notes)’ (2007) (which depicts a single frame from slightly different perspectives), ‘Inglourious Basterds (Film Notes)’ (2010) and ‘Brunhilde (Film Notes)’ (2024) after ‘Django Unchained’ (2012). 

Inglorious Basterds (Film Notes) - 2010

‘I do use [a] diary... as something to work with. I think for painting you’ve got to have something to work with and it’s got to be real and it’s better if it’s not manufactured, and my life is real for not manufactured, and my life is real for me, so I delve into it... So I’m making diary paintings, which are also history paintings because the diary and the history merge.’ 

Inspiration also comes from Wylie’s immediate surroundings: her home filled with objects and items that accumulate meaning for her; her “work-with-nature” garden, closely guarded by her cat, Pete; and the small community of neighbours and dwellings around her.  Daily life, whether the satisfaction of an enjoyable meal or a stimulating evening dinner with friends, provides Wylie with endless source material for both drawings and paintings. As for us all, everyday life is peppered with public events, shared through the screen or radio, mixing personal occurrences and memories with moments from popular culture or history.

NB

All quotes are by the artist

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Ca' Giustinian - Press Presentation - 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia - In Minor Keys - by Koyo Kouoh

   Press Presentation 

The 61st International Art Exhibition - La Biennale di Venezia  

In Minor Keys -  by Koyo Kouoh

The press presentation of - The 61st International Art Exhibition -  La Biennale di Venezia - In Minor Keys - by Koyo Kouoh - May 9-November 22 - begins quietly, like a story told in a low voice shaped by the vision of the late curator Koyo Kouoh who passed away in 2025, her presence will be deeply felt throughout the exhibition. She had already imagined its structure, selected the artists, and set its tone — one grounded in care, listening, and human connection. With the support of her family, the Biennale chose to carry her project forward, honoring the work she pursued until the very end.

"We mapped practices and projects, we identified resonances, affinities, synchronicities and conversations, we extracted motifs to structure the exhibition and pillars on which to draw it. Notions like enchantment, seeding, commoning, and generative practices that invite collectivities, emerged organically."

Koyo Kouoh 

in April 2025, with her team under the shades of a mango tree at the - RAW Material Company - the cultural center founded by her.

Team Kouoh

In Minor Keys - is the title chosen by the late Koyo Kouoh for the - Biennale Arte 2026 - as specified in the curatorial text, that vision has been carefully realised by the team Kouoh assembled and trusted: Marie Hélène Pereira, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo, and Rasha Salti - advisors - Siddhartha Mitter - editor-in-chief -  and Rory Tsapayi - research assistant.  Working across continents, they continued Kouoh’s method of curating as a shared, relational practice. The pivotal meeting in Dakar, held beneath a mango tree, became the emotional and conceptual anchor of the exhibition — a moment where ideas aligned, resonances emerged, and the “music” of the project could finally be heard.

The title In Minor Keys reflects Kouoh’s belief that art does not need to be loud to be powerful. Like music played softly, it asks for attention, sensitivity, and time. Rather than fixed sections, the exhibition moves through recurring motifs — shrines, processions, schools, and spaces of rest — allowing visitors to drift between works and meanings. Literary influences helped shape this rhythm, including Beloved by Toni Morrison and One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez, novels that move between memory, history, and imagination. Poetry also takes center stage, with live performances inspired by Kouoh’s own Poetry Caravan, affirming storytelling as a form of healing and transmission.

"Visitors are invited to slow down, to rest, and to listen — to each other, to the earth, and to themselves..."

Bringing together 111 artists from across the world, In Minor Keys celebrates connection over spectacle. Tributes to artists such as Issa Samb and Beverly Buchanan highlight art as something lived, shared, and deeply human. Visitors are invited to slow down, to rest, and to listen — to each other, to the earth, and to themselves. In doing so, the exhibition carries forward Kouoh’s lasting message: that the most meaningful transformations often happen quietly, in the minor keys of our shared humanity.

Issa Samb - 1945-2017

Beverly Buchanan

Annalee Davis

Torkwase Dyson

Pauline Oliveros

Fabrice Aragno

 Laurie Anderson

"The joy of authentic art, which so faithfully resembles real life..”

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco

 President - La Biennale di Venezia

“The joy of authentic art, which so faithfully resembles real life,” reflects Pietrangelo Buttafuoco - In Minor Keys - conceived by Koyo Kouoh, invites visitors to rediscover the human at the heart of everything — the small gestures, the connection to the earth, and the sense of proportion in life. Through her vision, art becomes a gentle guide, encouraging humility, presence, and the joy of creating with one’s own hands, reminding us that meaning and happiness often reside in the simple, tangible, and shared experiences of our daily lives."

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Maria Cristiana Costanzo

Maria Magdalena Campos-Pons - Kamaal Malak

Seen at Ca' Giustinian

Pietrangelo Buttafuoco and Roberto Cicutto

Debora Rossi

  the late Koyo Kouoh's husband - Philippe Mall and Cristiana Costanzo - 

La Biennale Head of Press Office

Matteo Morbidi

Amerigo Restucci

Giulio Manieri Elia

Barbara and Tonci Foscari

Luca Massimo Barbero

Stefano Zecchi and Giorgia Pea

Cristina Beltrami

Lorenzo Cinotti and Laura Scarpa

Gianni De Luigi

Petra Schaefer, Anais Nyffeler and Kathleen Reinhardt

 

Elisabetta Barisoni

Ziva Kraus

Annamaria Redolfi

Flavia Fossa Margutti

Rasha Salti, Siddhartha Mitter, Joern Brandmeyer, Marie Hélène Pereira, Gabe Beckhurst Feijoo and Rory Tsapayi 

Please Note

The artwork photos published here are screenshots from the press presentation.

 

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