Venice Biennale 2026

Opens 9th May – until 22nd November, 2026

_{Venice Biennale 2024 – Giardini entrance – art by Makhu Collective (Movimento dos Artistas Huni Kuin) from Brazil}

Venice Biennale: 9th May – 22nd November, 2026

Every two years the Venice Biennale takes over the Giardini (Gardens) and the Arsenale (old ship building yards) in the heart of Venice. The Biennale is a vast contemporary art event showcasing painting, sculpture and visual installations from all over the world. In addition there are many ‘collateral’ events spread all over the city, often in palaces and courtyards not normally open to the public. From now until late April, the city prepares for this huge event. The national pavilions are opened up, curators and artists arrive to plan and coordinate their exhibits. Huge boxes, packing cases and strangely shaped objects are delivered by boat to the Giardini and unloaded. Excitement builds. Two years ago I saw half a dozen full-sized trees and a grand piano being delivered to the central pavilion. By the first week in May everything will be in place and the latest edition of this far-reaching event will engulf the city of Venice, creating a magnetic appeal to art lovers and the curious from both near and far.

The 2026 edition of the Biennale follows the successful events of 2022 and 2024. In 2022 Cecilia Alemani an Italian art expert living in New York curated the Biennale. The theme was ‘Milk of Dreams’ inspired by the surrealist artist Leonora Carrington, a favourite of mine. Then in 2024 the curator was Adriano Pedrosa, from Brazil – his theme was ‘Stranieri Ovunque’ or ‘Foreigners Everywhere’. The range and depth of Pedrosa’s show was inspirational. It’s exciting to anticipate this year’s event and to look forward to visiting very soon. In 2024 art from 86 different countries was exhibited, making it the biggest international art event globally. In just a few months we’ll hear how many nations will be represented at this year’s 61st Biennale.

The theme of this year's Biennale — Biennale 2024

_{Venice Biennale – Poster and exhibit by Claire Fontaine – 2024 – photos by The Educated Traveller}

The 61^st Venice Biennale opens to the public on 9^th May, 2026. The theme is:

‘In Minor Keys’…..

The theme ‘In Minor Keys’ is a deliberately musical reference. Visitors are invited to view contemporary art in a sensory way, through colour, sound and ‘intricate melodies’. The curator Koyo Kouoh was the first African woman to be invited to curate the Venice Biennale (sadly she died in May, 2025). However her team will deliver her vision. The event is aiming to provide solace and joy through contemporary art. Kouoh’s vision emphasises themes of softness, nuance and deep listening. She also spoke of the ‘radicality of joy’ and hoping to make art a ‘collective [musical] score’ composed by artists who create intricate melodies.

The Venice Biennale started in the 1890s, it’s the oldest international art event in the world. Over the years numerous famous artists have participated in this unique event. In the early days many of the Pre-Raphaelite painters exhibited their work here, including Sir Edward Burne-Jones, John Everett Millais, Lawrence Alma-Tadema and Frederic, Lord Leighton. Later the Impressionists, Degas, Pissarro and Gauguin participated. John Singer Sargent and Kandinsky lit up the early years of the 20th century.

In 1948 Peggy Guggenheim was invited to include her private collection of modern art at the Biennale, occupying the Greek Pavilion. Peggy had been collecting art vigorously for years and had just moved to Venice, when she was asked to support the Biennale. She graciously allowed more than a hundred of her paintings to be displayed including work by Picasso, Salvador Dali, Marc Chagall, Henri Matisse, Paul Klee, Max Ernst, Rothko and (making his European debut) Jackson Pollock. The Venice Biennale of 1948 marked a turning point for Peggy and also for the event. It became the weather vane of the art world, introducing new artists and new styles to an international clientele. The event established Peggy as a serious collector of art and it established the Biennale as an international arbiter of taste.

More recently – artists who have debuted and/or established their reputation as a result of the Biennale include: Robert Rauschenberg, Bridget Riley, Louise Bourgeois, Anish Kapoor, Marina Abramovic, Yoko Ono and John Baldessari, Sonia Boyce and Simone Leigh. It’s almost impossible to overstate the importance of the Venice Biennale in the international art scene. In 2024 the wonderful, kind and talented Paula Nicho was invited to attend, by Adriano Pedrosa. She came all the way from Guatemala with her unique blend of colour, texture and warmth. Here are just a few of her charming paintings.

_{Paula Nicho’s intricate style, showing textiles + colours of her native Guatemala – Jeffrey Gibson, USA – right}

In 2026 the United Kingdom will be represented by Lubaina Himid a British painter – born in Zanzibar in 1954. Himid studied theatre design at Wimbledon College of Art. She favours bright colours and acrylics. For decades she has focused on the silent histories of enslaved people. She is a professor at the University of Central Lancashire. She was the winner of the Turner Prize in 2017. Here are a few examples of her powerful work (below).

_{Lubaina Himid – left to right: A Fashionable Marriage (1984-86) Le Rodeur: Exchange (2016) Six Tailors (2019) Credits below}

THE MAGIC OF VENICE – It’s important to remember that the Venice Biennale gives visitors the opportunity to explore the whole city, not just the official sites of Giardini and Arsenale. All over the city palaces and courtyards will open their doors to host ‘collateral events’ timed to coincide with the Biennale. These events are well worth a look.

In 2024 the stand out collateral events for me:

THE WOMEN’S PRISON – yes you read that correctly – an event inside the women’s prison with the detainees as the guides. This innovative event had a profound impact on me. It was a collaboration between The Vatican in Rome and the Italian Penitentiary System. The prison on Giudecca hosted a small exhibition with a focus on belonging and being seen. It was both brilliant and disturbing. I wrote about it here: The Women’s Prison, Venice

THE POLISH ARTIST – Ewa Juszkiewicz, exhibiting a series of beautifully constructed portraits of women with their heads and faces covered. This event at Palazzo Cavani was disturbing and surreal. What’s in a face you might ask, well not much if the artist is to be believed. The impact of these faceless portraits was extraordinary. All the paintings were modern reworkings of famous portraits, filled with colour and rich fabrics. The one big difference being that their faces are completely covered. These works were imprinted on my mind permanently. I wrote about Eva here: Venice Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere

_{Ewa Juszkiewicz, portrait (left) and Maurizio Cattelan painting, Women’s Prison – Biennale 2024}

IN 2026 – IT’S NOT JUST THE BIENNALE – there are two other block-buster shows in town:

Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector – opens 25th April, 2026

On 25th April, 2026 – The Peggy Guggenheim Gallery in Venice unveils a brand new exhibition about Peggy’s art gallery in London, which she ran from January 1938 to June, 1939. The gallery known as ‘Guggenheim Jeune‘ was located on Cork St, Mayfair (still an important gallery area today). Peggy’s gallery hosted numerous exhibitions during it’s short life, including Vasily Kandinsky’s first solo show in London. The curator Grazina Subelyte is a brilliant and highly competent individual. I’m sure that this new show, with a focus on the avant-garde movements of the era, especially surrealism and abstract art will be excellent. Her work on the Leonora Carrington exhibition in 2022 was sublime – here’s what I wrote at the time Surrealism and Magic – Venice.

I’m sure that this new show about Peggy Guggenheim and her gallery in London will be both fascinating and insightful. There will be works from Salvador Dalí, Barbara Hepworth, Kandinsky, Rita Kernn-Larsen, Piet Mondrian, Henry Moore, Cedric Morris and Sophie Taeuber-Arp on display. Given Peggy’s influence on the 1948 Biennale it is fitting that her work as a collector and patron ten years earlier, in London, should be considered in Venice today at the time of the 61st Biennale. This show will then move to the Royal Academy, London and The Guggenheim, New York in 2027. I can’t wait to see this exhibition.

Dates: Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice – April 25–October 19, 2026

AND

Accademia Art Gallery, Venice – Marina Abramovic – Transforming Energy – opens 6th May, 2026

On 6th May, 2026 – the Marina Abramovic show opens, curated by Shai Baitel in close collaboration with the artist. This is the first time a living female artist has been honoured with a major exhibition at the Accademia, Venice. The exhibition entitled ‘Transforming Energy’ will extend through the permanent galleries of the Accademia and include interactive exhibits, for example stone beds and structures embedded with crystals. Visitors will be encouraged to interact with these objects, lying, sitting or standing on them and creating what Abramovic calls ‘energy transmission’. As a performance artist, often using her own body as her canvas, visitors can expect to see some of her most iconic works including Imponderabilia (1977), Rhythm 0 (1974), Light/Dark (1977) and Balkan Baroque (1997). There will also be new works created especially for this momentous Accademia-Biennale-Venezia moment. This promises to be a truly innovative event uniting Venice’s artistic treasures of the past with the vibrant and lurid present of Abramovic’s world.

WHY NOT JOIN US FOR THE BIENNALE IN JUNE, 2026:

I’ve put together a great little package from 21-25 June, 2026. We’ll be staying on Lido at the very comfortable Villa Mabapa. We’ll include two full days at the Biennale, water taxi transfers (James Bond style) from Marco Polo Airport to Lido (and return). Curated visits to Giardini and Arsenale. Welcome dinner on arrival. A series of small group experiences whilst in Venice, including a special visit to the Guggenheim to see the ‘Peggy in London’ exhibition. Private water taxi from the hotel’s private quay direct to the Giardini!

Full details here: Venice Biennale – Grand Tourist Package

_{Biennale images from 2022, 2024 including Artefact mosaic maestro at work}

Links to just some of the articles I’ve written about Venice and the Biennale:

Venice – Biennale 2022
Venice Biennale – Foreigners Everywhere
Biennale in Venice – 2024
Venice – La Biennale 2024
Venice Biennale 2024 is open!
Paula Nicho
The Women’s Prison
The official web site of the Venice Biennale: The Biennale

Notes:

A note on the author – Janet Simmonds is an Art Historian and a Geographer. A graduate of the University of Oxford, she has a special interest in Venice and the history of tourism – especially The Grand Tour. She works as a guest lecturer in Italy for university groups and private individuals. She also works in Oxford, London and throughout Italy. Blog: www.educated-traveller.com
She offers specialist travel services in Italy and Greece especially relating to art, history and culture. Her company is appropriately named Grand Tourist. www.grand-tourist.com

Credits for Lubaina Himid’s works (pictured above) are as follows:
A Fashionable Marriage (1984-86) Credit: Nottingham Contemporary / Andy Keate / Courtesy the artist / Hollybush Gardens.
Le Rodeur: Exchange (2016) is one of a series of paintings by Himid about a ship that sailed with captured Africans on board / Courtesy the artist/Hollybush Gardens.