The Ca' Pesaro art museum was very close to my hotel, and was therefore, the first stop on my wanderings about Venice. The Ca' Pesaro is a huge Baroque palazzo and is Venice's official museum of modern and oriental art. Most of the artwork in the Ca' Pesaro was accumulated in the early 1900s when pieces were bought for the collection directly from Venice's internationally renowned Biennale. The gallery stopped acquiring works in the 1950s so it is not perhaps a museum of truly modern art. There are are however many gems in the collection from the early 20th century, a selection of which are found below.
The patterned marble floors in the Ca' Pesaro were stunning.
One of Italian sculptor Giacomo Manzù's Seated Cardinals guards the entrance.
The exhibits in the permanent collection on the first floor opened with a dialogue between the output of sculptors Auguste Rodin, Medardo Rosso, and Adolfo Wildt. Please forgive the lack of information on artworks. I was so engrossed in looking, that I forgot to take the names of artists and artworks so this blog is done from hindsight and memory. The Ca' Pesaro's website unfortunately doesn't appear to list its own artworks.
Afro Basaldella - La Fabbrica di San Pietro - 1960
Alberto Burri
Bonnard
Matisse
Calder
Kandinsky
Picasso
I adored the textures created by the energetic mark-making in this painting - G.G. 105, (1961), by Mario Deluigi.
Henry Moore
Giorgio Morandi
Di Chirico
Antonio Donghi
This dynamic table was created by Bugatti the designer of high performance cars.
Being so close to the island of Murano the collection features some beautiful examples of glassware, a particular speciality of the area. These were some of my favourites which looked wonderfully tactile. The shapes and forms were marvelous. Some pieces were so light and delicate, whilst others were hardy and robust, displaying the versatility of the medium of glass.
Rodin's Thinker
Marc Chagall
I was so pleased to see a piece by Franz von Stuck - Medusa (above), whose figurative work was a big influence early on in my career.
Edvard Munch
An erotic Egon Schiele drawing, accompanied by a wonderful painting - Judith II (Salome) 1909 - by his mentor Gustav Klimt - an undisputed jewel of the Ca' Pésaro collection.
The permanent collection at Ca' Pesaro is a small but engaging selection of art. The museum of Oriental art at the very top of the palazzo however really needs to be updated and given a new presentation. An air of neglect seems to hang over what is a good collection of some beautiful oriental artefacts and paintings. The works are in desperate need of labelling so the viewer knows exactly what they are looking at and from what periods.
The paintings and relief decoration on the ceilings of the palazzo are very impressive and give an indication of just how opulent the Ca' Pesaro was in its heyday.
Ca' Pesaro
Galleria d'arte Moderna/Museo Orientale
Canal Grande
Santa Croce 2076
