Media Release
VENICE
From Canaletto and Turner to Monet
September 28, 2008 ― February 15, 2009
Canaletto (1697 – 1768), Francesco Guardi (1712 – 1793), J. M. William Turner (1775 – 1851),
James McNeill Whistler (1834 – 1903), John Singer Sargent (1856 – 1925), Anders Zorn (1860 –
1920), Edouard Manet (1832 – 1883), Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841 – 1919), Pietro Fragiacomo
(1856 – 1922), Odilon Redon (1840 – 1916), Paul Signac (1863 – 1935), Claude Monet (1840 – 1926)
Venice has fascinated people, especially artists, for centuries. The Fondation Beyeler is
devoting a magnificent exhibition to the delightful city on the lagoon and the myths that have
formed around it, comprising 150 oil and watercolor paintings from major museums and
private collections around the world. For the first time, renowned Venice pictures by famous
artists such as Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, William Turner, James McNeill Whistler, John
Singer Sargent, Edouard Manet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Odilon Redon, and Paul Signac will
be on display together. A large part of the paintings Claude Monet executed in Venice in 1908
will form a high point in the exhibition.
The myth of Venice was largely established by artists. In the nineteenth and twentieth
century, the “Serenissima” became a cult destination for painters and photographers. They
were all intrigued by the mysterious city and its unique churches, palaces, ships, canals,
marketplaces, and colorful everyday life. Especially the atmospheric interplay of sky and sea,
light and water, inspired epoch-making works that provided crucial impulses to the
development of modern art.
The exhibition is supplemented by historical photographs of Venice from the second half of
the nineteenth century. On view in parallel are contemporary photographic works on the city
by Vera Lutter and David Claerbout.
Guest curator of the exhibition, which will be on view at the Fondation Beyeler only, is Martin
Schwander.
A variety of events, including a reading by Donna Leon and a lieder soiree with a vocal
ensemble from the Basel Theater Opera, are planned to accompany the exhibition.
The exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, published by Hatje Cantz Verlag, Ostfildern, and
containing an introduction on art and cultural history by Martin Schwander and new research results by
Gottfried Boehm, Alan Chong, Anne Distel, Dario Gamboni, Elaine Kilmurray, Bożena Anna
Kowalczyk, Margaret F. MacDonald, Christopher Riopelle, Giandomenico Romanelli, Ian Warrell, and
Juliet Wilson-Bareau. The volume, illustrating all the works on exhibit, will comprise 224 pages with
182 reproductions in full color. Price CHF 68.
Contact press: Ricarda Dobler / Catherine Schott, tel. + 41 (0)61 645 97 29/21, fax + 41 (0)61 645 97 39;
presse@beyeler.com
www.beyeler.com (press dossier) – press images for downloading at www.beyeler.com/press-images
Opening hours of the Fondation Beyeler: 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily, Wednesdays until 8 p.m.