Ca' Pesaro - Modern Art Museum

Modern Art Museum

Ca' Pesaro houses 19th and 20th century collections of paintings and sculptures, as well as a section on graphic art.

• Room 1: Works by Venetian painters of the second half of the 19th century, such as Ippolito Caffi, Guglielmo Ciardi, Giacomo Favretto, and Pietro Fragiacomo are on display, testifying to the city's art variety in the 19th and the early 20th century.

• Room 2: This room brings together 19th century Italian works: there are paintings by Signorini, Giovanni Fattori, De Nittis, Pellizza, Gaetano Previati, and Angelo Morbelli. The city of Venice was stirred by the presence of these artists at the city's Biennale to acquire their works, which testify to the vitality of Italian painting at the turn of the century. The collection of sculptures by Medardo Rosso is also of special importance.

• Central Hall: The central hall displays works from the very first Venice Biennale up to the 1950s. The room begins with a homage to one of the founders of the Biennale, Riccardo Selvatico, portrayed by Alessandro Milesi, and continues with works by artists from England, Belgium, Scandinavia, Germany, France and Russia. Alongside masterpieces (such as Gustav Klimt’s Judith II and Aunt Luisa by Zuloaga), a number of other paintings that met with outstanding success during the early editions of the Biennale by Filipp Andreevič Maljavin, Charles Cottet, and Joaquin Sorolla are exhibited. These works give an idea of the Biennale’s role in promoting “salon-art”, followed by others of experimental kind such as Kandinsky’s White Zig Zags. Finally, works from the museum’s graphic art collection and sculptures are also on display, together with some renowned paintings by Pierre Bonnard and Marc Chagall.

• Room 3: This room is devoted to Adolfo Wildt's sculptures, donated to Ca' Pesaro by the Wildt-Scheiwiller heirs in 1990. The Milanese artist was a protagonist of the Symbolism, but also of a period of experimentalism and innovation that influenced later generations.

• Room 4: The De Lisi bequest, exhibited in this room, was donated to the museum in 1961, and include major artworks by Italian and foreign artists. There are paintings by Felice Casorati (a central figure of the intellectual avant-garde in Turin during the early 1920s), Mario Sironi, and Alberto Martini. Other artists present in this room include Carrà, Filippo De Pisis, Giorgio Morandi, Massimo Campigli, Ottone Rosai, and Giorgio de Chirico. Tanguy, Brauner, Matta Echaurren, Joan Mirò and Kandinsky, who testify the collector’s preference for surrealist themes, even in artists not generally identified with the movement.

• Rooms 5 and 6: These rooms are devoted to the Ca’ Pesaro Years, a term applied to the first season of the Bevilacqua La Masa exhibitions organized by Nino Barbantini (from 1908 to 1924). The works exhibited here brought some of the most important Italian artists to public notice and provide a clear idea of this period. Works by Ugo Valeri, Alberto Martini, Boccioni, Gino Rossi, Umberto Moggioli, and Felice Casorati on display, alongside the Burano School, which is represented by Pio Semeghini. The rooms also displays later works by Guido Cadorin, Guido Marussig, and Gennaro Favai.

• Room 7: This room offers an overview of the Italian art trends in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, with works by Antonio Donghi, Luigi Tito, Lorenzo Viani, Giuseppe Cesetti, and Guido Cadorin. A tapestry work by Fortunato Depero is displayed toegether with works by Enrico Prampolini and Toti Scialoja. In the center of the room is a work by Umberto Mastroianni. Other artists present in this room include Leone Minassian and Franco Gentilini.

• Room 8: This room offers an overview of some Italian art trends during the post-World War II period. Figurative art is well represented by works by Filippo De Pisis, Fausto Pirandello, Bruno Cassinari, and Pericle Fazzini. By contrast, the informal experiences of Renato Birolli, Ennio Morlotti, Zoran Music, Afro Basadella, and Achille Perilli are flanked by abstract works by Bice Lazzari. Works range from Emilio Vedova’s Europe to Renato Birlolli’s Wall of a Fisherman’s House. Visitors can also see on display works by artists such as Mirko Basaldella and Leoncillo.

• Room 9: After World War II, Venetian art entered a new, lively phase, with the Fronte Nuovo delle Arti and the Spatialism. The protagonists of these movements are all present in this room, including Armando Pizzinato, Giuseppe Santomaso, Emilio Vedova, Tancredi, Edmondo Bacci, Guidi, Bruno Saetti, Mario Deluigi, Alberto Gianquinto, and Vittorio Basaglia.

• Room 10: A small Contemporary Art gallery inside the museum, this room is dedicated to temporary exhibitions on unpublished works, young artists’ experiments, and video art.