iCa' Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern ArtSanta Croce
Jenny Saville a Ca' Pesaro
First major Venice show of British painter Jenny Saville: 30+ paintings and drawings from the 1990s to today, ending with new works made in homage to the city.
More in Venice
The first room hangs Propped, painted in 1992 as Saville's Glasgow School of Art diploma piece and bought by Charles Saatchi, with feminist philosophy written across the canvas. Hybrid, from 1997, hangs in the same gallery. These are monumental nudes, and reviewer Emanuela Zanon of Finestre sull'Arte says the early paintings are still the most disturbing three decades on.
Over thirty paintings and drawings follow roughly in order. The middle galleries cover 2004 to 2025, where the brushwork loosens from exact likeness into layered colour, in works like Stare and Gaze. Byzantium (2018), a Pietà on dripping gold, closes one reviewer's tour, and the museum says the final room shows a cycle of new works made in homage to Venice. The gold is San Marco's mosaics without the queue in the piazza.
Entry is the standard €15 museum ticket, with the show included. The museum is closed Mondays and open 10:00 to 18:00 until 31 October, then 10:00 to 17:00. The show closes on 22 November.
Editor's pick
Jenny Saville's first major Venice show: more than 30 paintings and drawings from the 1990s on, ending with new works made in homage to the city.
Look for
Propped (1992)
Saville's degree-show nude, a monumental figure with feminist philosophy inscribed directly on the canvas, bought by Charles Saatchi.
Hybrid (1997)
Another monumental early nude in the opening gallery, where flesh is treated as contested ground.
Stare and Gaze
Paintings from 2004-2005 and 2021-2024 where layered colour and loose brushwork take over from anatomical precision.
Byzantium (2018)
A Pietà on a dripping gold background, which a reviewer says collapses millennia of art history into one image.
The Venice cycle
A previously unseen group of new works, made in homage to the city, in the final room.
Good for
- First-Timers
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You want a gentle visit: a reviewer calls the early nudes still disturbing.
Also at Ca' Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art
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Image credits
9
- Jenny Saville a Ca' PesaroCourtesy of Ca' Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern Art
- The Silks of Lucio AndrichCourtesy of Palazzo Mocenigo – Museum of Textiles and Costume
- A Lace for Venice 2026Courtesy of Palazzo Mocenigo – Museum of Textiles and Costume
- Helter Skelter: Arthur Jafa and Richard PrincePh. Andrea Rossetti, Courtesy Fondazione Prada
- Ca' Pesaro – International Gallery of Modern ArtWolfgang Moroder / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Palazzo Mocenigo – Museum of Textiles and CostumeDidier Descouens / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Fondazione Prada Venezia (Ca' Corner della Regina)Wolfgang Moroder / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Museo di Storia Naturale di Venezia (Fontego dei Turchi)Didier Descouens / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Ca' d'Oro – Galleria Giorgio FranchettiDidier Descouens / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0