Saturday October 3 was a beautiful, sunny, warm day with a high of 23C. It was also a jammed pack day so I am doing two posts.
We started our day with a quick espresso at Rosa Salva, a wonderful café, Pasticceria and Bar just around the corner from our apartment.
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| Exiting our street-- very ancient Madonna carving |
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| Outside Rosa Salva |
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| First coffee |
People were enjoying their coffees and pastries in the square in front of the Basilica at the end of the our street.
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| Basilica Santi Giovanni e Paolo |
Our destination was the Fondazione Dries Van Noten's first exhibit at the newly renovated Palazzo Pisani Moretta. It was about a 30 minute walk. Google Maps worked well, taking us through narrow alleys and a number of small bridges to get there. We had a 11:00 a.m. entry time.
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Wonderful views along the way
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| Vegetable and fruit stand in a Square |
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| Another bridge |
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| Wonderful houses on the water |
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| Modern Gondolier with his cell phone |
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| Magical Venice |
The Palazzo Pisani Moretta, a landmark of Venetian Gothic architecture is located on the left bank of the Grand Canal. It was built in the late 15th century. Its façade is defined by two magnificent Gothic six-light windows. The Palace's golden age began in 1629 when it was acquired by the Pisani Moretta family. In the 1740s, Chiara Pisani led a bold Rococo transformation, which included commissioning Giambattista Tiepolo to adorn the ceilings with celestial frescoes. The Palazzo has hosted the likes of Josephine Bonaparte. Dries Van Noten (Belgian designer who exited his label in 2024) and Patrick Vangheluwe purchased the Palazzo in 2025 and have turned it into an incredible cultural landmark for the display of arts and crafts and to show the importance of craftsmanship.
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| View of the Palazzo from the waterside (pic from Internet)-beautiful windows |
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Entrance from the street
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| Posters of the Exhibit in the bookstore |
The exhibit is entitled: "The Only True Protest is Beauty", a line from the activist Phil Ochs, who wrote it during the Vietnam War. Dries Van Noten has said that the line resonated with him. He noted that;"we dropped the first part-"in such ugly times"- I think we are reminded enough". "I hope the show helps you think about the importance of beauty". It was an amazing show featuring over 200 objects, spanning fashion, jewellery, glass, ceramics, photography and more in absolutely spectacular settings. The show's design was incredible. Van Noten's goal was to explore craftsmanship as a conduit for emotion. It succeeded in spades.
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Grand entrance to the building-- the exhibit was on the first and second floor
with a few items on the main floor. |
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| Heading up to the first floor (second in Canada) for the start of the exhibit |
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| Entrance- with photography- fabulous fescoed ceilings and Murano glass chandeliers |
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Lots of fashion from Commes des Garçons (fashion label founded by Rei Kawakubo in Tokyo in 1969).
This piece was from Fall/Winter 2020 |
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| More Comme des Garçons in the beautiful rococo room |
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| More Commes des Garçons |
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| Lots of jewellery, often with skulls |
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| Incredible designs |
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| Lots of paintings in the elaborate rooms |
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| Wallpaper and incredible ceramics by Maori Kurihara ( b. 1987), a Paris-based artist. |
Kurihara explores the unsetting beauty of botany and the vegetal world by translating fruits and plants into ceramic forms. There were 13 ceramics in the exhibit, created from 2023-2025.
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Each room was exquisite from the old paintings on the wall, the wonderful wallpapers
and the modern day fashion and design. |
There was piece by Ayham Hassan (b. 1999, West Bank), a Palestinian designer, and recent graduate of Central Saint Martins fashion school in London. The quote by his piece said: "We, as Palestinians, don't get the luxury of turning away. But we also can't only mourn. You don't survive if you stay mourning. That's why beauty matters. That's why fashion matters."
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| Ayham Hassan |
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| Misha Kahn, Flotsam Jetsam, 2017 |
We headed back down to the main floor which had a number of sculptural pieces. There was also a small bookstore/giftshop.
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| Another Peter Buggenhout sculpture |
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| Fashion in the giftshop |
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| Small alcove with a table with glass vases and a table setting- canal through the window |
We stepped outside of the museum on the canal side for a few minutes before we left the exhibit.
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| View from the Palazzo |
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| One never gets tired of Venice architecture |
We both thoroughly enjoyed the exhibit. It was a real highlight. The Fondazione has spared no expense in renovating the Palazzo, keeping its fabulous rococo ceilings and furnishings. The exhibit was magnificently curated. I took many more photos which I have not posted. We were lucky to have been in Venice this weekend, as the exhibit ends on October 4.
We walked to the nearest vaporetto stop to head to the Giardini, one of the two main sites of the Venice Biennale.
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| The vaporetto ride passed lots of interesting buildings including a number of art museums |
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| En route |
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| Gondolas everywhere |
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| Passing St. Mark's Square |
The next post will deal with our visit to a number of country pavilions and the Central Pavilion in the Giardini portion of the Biennale. We arrived at around 1:00 p.m. to start our afternoon visit.
Looks like you have already seen a lot. So very interesting. THanks for sharing. Looking forward to seeing you during our birthday month.
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