Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
FONDAZIONE PRADA
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(Ca' Corner; 041 810 91 61;
www.fondazioneprada.org
;
Calle de Ca' Corner 2215, Santa Croce; adult/reduced €10/
free; 10am-6pm Wed-Mon during exhibitions; San Stae)
This stately Grand Canal palace has
been commandeered by Fondazione Prada, but you won't necessarily find handbags here.
Instead Ca' Corner showcases the art and avant-garde design that have shaped modern
visual sensibilities, from Fortunato Depero's fragmented Futurist suits to Andy Warhol's
Brillo boxes. Rotating multimedia shows are imaginative and exhaustive, though one vis-
iting dachshund critic yawned audibly at early video art.
CA' PESARO
MAP
MUSEUM
GOOGLE MAP
(Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna e Museo d'Arte Orientale;
041 72 11 27;
www.visitmuve.it
; Fondamenta
di Ca' Pesaro 2070, Santa Croce ; adult/reduced €8/5.50, or with Museum Pass; 10am-6pm Tue-Sun Apr-Oct, to
5pm Nov-Mar; San Stae)
Like a Carnevale costume built for two, the stately exterior of this
Baldassare Longhena-designed 1710
palazzo
hides two quirky museums:
Galleria In-
ternazionale d'Arte Moderna
and
Museo d'Arte Orientale
. Galleria d'Arte Moderna covers three
floors and highlights Venice's role in modern-art history, while the attic holds treasures
from Prince Enrico di Borbone's epic 1887-89 souvenir-shopping spree across Asia.
Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna begins with flag-waving early Biennales,
showcasing Venetian landscapes and Venetian socialites by Venetian painters (notably Gi-
acomo Favretto) and Luigi Nono's Italian social realism. Savvy Venice Biennale organ-
isers soon diversified, showcasing Gustav Klimt's 1909
Judith II (Salome)
and Marc
Chagall's
Rabbi of Vitebsk
(1914-22). The 1961 De Lisi Bequest added Kandinskys and
Morandis to the modernist mix of de Chiricos, Mirós and Moores, plus radical abstracts
by postwar Venetian artists Giuseppe Santomaso and Emilio Vedova. Second-floor tem-
porary exhibits are variable but often upstaged by sweeping Grand Canal views.
Climb the creaky attic stairs of the Museo d'Arte Orientale past a phalanx of samurai
warriors, guarding a princely collection of Asian travel souvenirs. Prince Enrico di Bor-
bone reached Japan when Edo art was discounted in favour of modern Meiji, and Edo-era
netsukes, screens and a lacquerware palanquin are standouts in his collection of 30,000
objets d'art. The collection has been left much as it was organised in 1928, with a rotating
selection of vintage curio cabinet displays covered to prevent light damage.
CHIESA DI SAN GIACOMO DELL'ORIO
MAP
CHURCH
GOOGLE MAP
