Mac Rating: 5.00 | Votes: 1 | Date: 19/07/2026 20:28:00

Venice's international gallery of modern and contemporary art, housed in a monumental baroque palazzo on the Grand Canal designed by Baldassare Longhena and completed by Antonio Gaspari in 1710. Ca' Pesaro was bequeathed to the city by Duchess Felicita Bevilacqua La Masa in 1898 with the stipulation that it serve as a venue for emerging artists, and the building has functioned as Venice's modern art museum since 1902, accumulating a permanent collection that includes works by Klimt, Chagall, Kandinsky, Klee, Matisse, and Rodin. The palazzo's Grand Canal facade is one of the most imposing in Venice: a rusticated ground floor supporting two piano nobile levels articulated by deep diamond-point rustication, paired columns, and elaborate window frames that create dramatic shadows across the stone surface. The interior preserves Longhena's grand staircase and several frescoed ceilings while dedicating the principal rooms to the modern art collection. The permanent collection on the first and second piano nobile floors spans late nineteenth-century through mid-twentieth-century painting and sculpture, with particular strength in works acquired through the Venice Biennale -- many of which were purchased directly from Biennale exhibitions and retain provenance documentation linking them to specific editions. Upper floors house the Museum of Oriental Art, a separate collection of Japanese, Chinese, and Southeast Asian arms, armour, textiles, and decorative arts assembled by Count Henri de Bourbon-Parme during his Asian travels. Ca' Pesaro is part of the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia network, with combined museum passes providing access alongside the Doge's Palace, Museo Correr, and other civic museums. The San Stae vaporetto stop on Line 1 is directly in front of the palazzo's water gate. The building's location on the upper Grand Canal places it in a quieter stretch of the waterway, away from the tourist density of the San Marco and Rialto areas.