Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna, Art gallery in Ca' Pesaro palace, Venice, Italy
The Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna occupies Ca' Pesaro, a baroque palace on the Grand Canal with multiple exhibition floors. The collection displays paintings and sculptures from the 19th and 20th centuries by European artists.
Ca' Pesaro was donated by Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa to Venice as a centre for modern art. The municipal modern art collection was founded through Alberto Giovanelli's 1897 donation, on the occasion of the second Venice Biennale, and in 1902 it was installed in the palace. Works shown at the Biennale flowed into the gallery, making it a museum of the exhibition for the early 20th century.
The palazzo held works gathered from early Venice Biennale exhibitions, showing how art collection and palace life were intertwined. Visitors encounter the space where such treasures were meant to be lived with rather than just observed.
The gallery occupies the piano nobile of Ca' Pesaro, reached by the palace's monumental staircase; the Oriental Art Museum sits on the top floor of the same building, so both can be visited in one stop. The entrance is near Campo San Stae, a short walk from the San Stae vaporetto stop on the Grand Canal.
The first room displays Rodin's Burghers of Calais, while a version of his Thinker is also in the collection. In 2015 mayor Luigi Brugnaro proposed selling the gallery's Klimt and Chagall works to balance the city's accounts, a plan that drew attention to the collection's value.
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