Ca' Pesaro
Museum of modern art

Major sights in Venice

The grandiose palazzo, now the seat of the International Gallery of modern art (italian Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna), was built in the second half of the seventeenth century for the noble and wealthy Pesaro family, to a project by the greatest Venetian baroque architect, Baldassarre Longhena, who also designed the church of the Salute and Ca’ Rezzonico.

The palazzo still conserves some of the fresco and oil decorations of the ceilings, the work of such artists as Bambini, Pittoni, Crosato, Trevisani and Brusaferro; there was also a ceiling by G.B. Tiepolo, with Zephyrus and Flora, which was transferred to the Museum of Ca’ Rezzonico in 1935.

Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa decreed the present usage of the building, bequeathing it to the city in 1898, as a museum of modern art.

The collection was enriched over the years by further acquisitions and donations. The former mainly consisted of works bought by the Town Council at the Venice Biennale: up unto the 1950s European art was favoured, in agreement with the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna of Rome, which generally acquired Italian works at the Biennale.
From the 1960s onwards a new policy was adopted, privileging Italian art.

The International Gallery of Modern Art contains important nineteenth- and twentieth-century collections of paintings and sculptures, including masterpieces by Klimt, Chagall and remarkable works by such artists as Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, Medardo Rosso, De Chirico and Moore, as well as a rich selection of works by Italian artists and an important section of graphic art.

Visit the official website of the Ca' Pesaro in Venice