From Venice to Rome, passing through Milan and Florence, there are numerous exhibitions to visit during the summer holidays. Here are our suggestions

THE EXHIBITIONS IN VENICE
Historical figures and contemporary protagonists share the Venetian exhibition scene, which offers a rich programme of summer shows. The Pinault Collection’s Venetian venues welcome Michael Armitage’s paintings and Amar Kanwar’s multimedia installations on the premises of Palazzo Grassi, while Lorna Simpson’s pictorial language and Paulo Nazareth’s reflections on the present occupy the spaces of Punta della Dogana.
Staying in the Dorsoduro district, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection retraces the London experience of the patron it is named for, and describes the important role of the Guggenheim Jeune ‒ the gallery active in the city from 1938 to 1939 ‒ in the development of contemporary art history.
Nearby, the Palazzo Cini Gallery offers an overview of David Salle’s painting practice in his first solo exhibition in Venice, and the Gallerie dell’Accademia showcases Marina Abramović’s exhibition, which focuses on the transformative power of energy. On the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, the Giorgio Cini Foundation hosts the latest works by the recently deceased Georg Baselitz. The nearby Basilica serves as the backdrop for the works of Barry X Ball, an artist capable of interpreting the past through the lens of new technologies. Le Stanze del Vetro, meanwhile, inaugurated the third chapter of the exhibition series dedicated to the presence of Murano glass at the Venice Biennale, this time focusing on the decade between 1948 and 1958.
On the Giudecca island, the Casa dei Tre Oci, the Venetian headquarters of the Berggruen Institute Europe, hosts Joseph Kosuth’s exhibition, including landmark works and a new large-scale intervention. Palazzo Diedo, home of Berggruen Arts & Culture in the heart of the Cannaregio district, explores the peculiarities of Protocol Art ‒ based on algorithms, artificial intelligence models, technological infrastructures, and computer protocols ‒ and pays homage to the career of Ceal Floyer, the British artist who passed away in December 2025 and whose oeuvre fused video, readymades, photography, sculpture, and sound installations.
The newly established Fondazione Dries Van Noten has opened the doors of Palazzo Pisani Moretta with the exhibition The Only True Protest is Beauty, laying the foundations for a project anchored in craftsmanship.
Contemporaneity is the underlying theme of Canicula, the third and final instalment of the trilogy promoted by the Fondazione In Between Art Film at the Complesso dell’Ospedaletto: eight site-specific video installations were commissioned for this occasion.
Contemporaneity is also a theme at the Palazzo Grimani Museum, where Amoako Boafo creates a pictorial dialogue with the historic building’s architecture and with the Venetian artistic tradition.

INFO
Michael Armitage.  The Promise of Change
Amar Kanwar. Co-travellers
until 10 January 2027
PALAZZO GRASSI
Campo San Samuele 3231, Venice
Lorna Simpson. Third Person
Paulo Nazareth. Algebra
until 22 November 2026
PUNTA DELLA DOGANA
Dorsoduro 2, Venice
https://www.pinaultcollection.com/palazzograssi/it

Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector
until 19 October 2026
PEGGY GUGGENHEIM COLLECTION
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701, Venice
https://www.guggenheim-venice.it/

Painting in the Present Tense
until 27 September 2026
LA GALLERIA DI PALAZZO CINI
Dorsoduro 864, Campo San Vio, Venice
https://www.palazzocini.it/

Transforming Energy
until 18 October 2026
GALLERIE DELL’ACCADEMIA
Campo della Carità, Dorsoduro 1050, Venice
https://www.gallerieaccademia.it/

Georg Baselitz. Eroi d’Oro
until 27 September 2026
FONDAZIONE GIORGIO CINI
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
https://www.cini.it/

Barry X Ball. The Shape of Time
until 22 November 2026
BASILICA DI SAN GIORGIO MAGGIORE
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore
https://www.abbaziasangiorgio.it/progetti-culturali/

1948-1958 Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale
until 22 November 2026
LE STANZE DEL VETRO
Isola di San Giorgio Maggiore, Venice
https://lestanzedelvetro.org/

The-exchange-value-of-language-has-fallen-to-zero
until 22 November 2026
CASA DEI TRE OCI
Fondamenta Zitelle, 43, Venice
https://berggruen.org/

Strange Rules
Unfinished
until 22 November 2026
PALAZZO DIEDO
Cannaregio 2386, Venice
https://berggruenarts.org/

The Only True Protest is Beauty
until 4 October 2026
FONDAZIONE DRIES VAN NOTEN
Palazzo Pisani Moretta
San Polo 2766, Venice
https://fondazionedriesvannoten.org/en

Canicula
until 22 November 2026
COMPLESSO DELL’OSPEDALETTO
Barbaria de le Tole, 6691, Venice
https://inbetweenartfilm.com/canicula/

Amoako Boafo. It doesn’t have to always make sense
until 22 November 2026
MUSEO DI PALAZZO GRIMANI
Ramo Grimani, Castello 4858, Venice
https://museiveneto.cultura.gov.it/musei/museo-di-palazzo-grimani

Captions:

Michael Armitage, Dandora (Xala, Musicians), 2022. Pinault Collection © Michael Armitage Photo: © White Cube (David Westwood)

Amar Kanwar, The Peacock’s Graveyard, 2023 (still). Pinault Collection. Digital video installation, 7 screens, dimensions variable, 28 mins, 16 sec (sync, loop), edition of 6. © Amar Kanwar, Courtesy Marian Goodman Gallery

Lorna Simpson, Head on Ice #3, 2016. Ink and screenprint on gessoed fiberglass, 170.2 x 127 cm (67 x 50 in.) The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Gift of the Director’s Council and Museum purchase, 2017 © Lorna Simpson; courtesy the artist and Hauser & Wirth; photo by James Wang

Paulo Nazareth, Nice, 2017. Pinault Collection. Pencil on paper, stone and sneakers, 23 x 61 x 45 cm (9 1/16 x 24 x 17 11/16 in.) © Paulo Nazareth

Vasily Kandinsky, Dominant Curve. April 1936. Oil on canvas, 129.2 x 194.3 cm. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection)

David Salle, Yellow Shawl, 2025-2026. Oil, acrylic, Flashe and charcoal on archival UV print on linen. Image 152.4 x 195.6 cm (60 x 77 in). Frame 164.5 x 207.7 x 7 cm (64.76x 81.77 x 2.76 in).  © David Salle / ARS New York. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery,London · Paris · Salzburg · Milan · Seoul. Photo: John Berens

Transforming Energy, exhibition view, Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice 2026. Photo Matteo de Fina

Georg Baselitz, Hält sich in der Mitte auf, 2025. Oil and gold paint on canvas, 300 x 215 cm. GB/M 2025.09.23. Courtesy Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, London · Paris · Salzburg · Milan · Seoul © Georg Baselitz Photo: Stefan Altenburger

Barry X Ball, Saint Bartholomew Flayed. Credits: Barry X Ball Studio

1948-1958 Murano Glass and the Venice Biennale, installation view, Le Stanze del Vetro, Venice 2026. Photo Enrico Fiorese

The-exchange-value-of-language-has-fallen-to-zero, installation view, Clock (One and Five), Casa dei Tre Oci, Venice 2026. Photo Marco Cappelletti

Trevor Paglen. Voyager, 2026. Hypnotic audio scripts, biofeedback software, pulse sensor, isolation booth, headphones, dimensions variable. Photo by Trevor Paglen, copyright Trevor Paglen. Courtesy of the artist and Jessica Silverman Gallery, San Francisco and Pace Gallery, New York

Ceal Floyer, Bucket, 1999. Installation View from Unfinished at Palazzo Diedo Berggruen Arts & Culture 2026. Photo credit Joan Porcal

Fondazione Dries Van Noten, Palazzo Pisani Moretta, Venice. Photo Camilla Glorioso

Lawrence Abu Hamdan, 450XL: The Story of a Fugitive Sound, 2026 in Canicula, Fondazione In Between Art Film at Complesso dell’Ospedaletto, Venice, 2026. Courtesy of the artist and Fondazione In Between Art Film. Photo © Marco Cappelletti and Giuseppe Miotto / Marco Cappelletti Studio (cover photo)

Amoako Boafo, Two Faces, 2021-25. Oil and embroidery on canvas, 70 3/4 x 59 inches (180 x 150 cm) © Amoako Boafo, Photo: Nii Odzenma. Courtesy the artist and Gagosian

THE EXHIBITIONS IN MILAN
The exhibition Palazzo Reale is dedicating to the German artist Anselm Kiefer draws on the central role of the female figure in his artistic philosophy; the impressive series of canvases displayed in the Sala delle Cariatidi brings to light the stories of the women alchemists that were condemned to oblivion.
The exhibitions that the Pirelli HangarBicocca has dedicated to Benni Bosetto and Rirkrit Tiravanija will run until 19 and 26 July 2026 respectively. Titled Rebecca and displayed in the Shed, Benni Bosetto’s solo show is constructed around the idea of ​​home, analyzed in its intimate and political dimensions, while the home evoked by The House That Jack Built in the Navate takes shape within Rirkrit Tiravanija’s thirty-year experimentation in spatial and architectural fields.

INFO
Kiefer. The Women Alchemists
until 27 September 2026
Sala delle Cariatidi
PALAZZO REALE
Piazza del Duomo 12, Milan
https://www.palazzorealemilano.it

Rebecca
until 19 July 2026
The House That Jack Built
until 26 July 2026
PIRELLI HANGARBICOCCA
Via Chiese 2, Milan
https://pirellihangarbicocca.org/

Captions:

Kiefer. The Women Alchemists, installation view, Palazzo Reale, Milan 2026. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

Benni Bosetto Rebecca. Exhibition view, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2026. Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo Agostino Osio

Rirkrit Tiravanija untitled 2002 (he promised), 2026. Installation view, Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan, 2026. Exhibition copy from untitled 2002 (he promised), 2002, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Courtesy the artist and Pirelli HangarBicocca, Milan. Photo Agostino Osio

THE EXHIBITIONS IN FLORENCE
Mark Rothko’s artistic career is the beating heart of the exhibition hosted at Palazzo Strozzi, and also hosted by the Museo di San Marco and the Vestibolo della Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana. What stands out is Rothko’s connection to Florence, which exerted a strong influence on his visual language.
In the courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi, the new site-specific installation by the Danish collective SUPERFLEX draws attention to one of the tragic consequences of climate change ‒ the inexorable rise in sea levels ‒ inviting us to ask questions about the new forms of existence that the future will bring.

INFO
There Are Other Fish In The Sea
until 2 agosto 2026
Courtyard of Palazzo Strozzi
Rothko in Florence
until 23 August 2026
PALAZZO STROZZI
Piazza Strozzi, Florence
MUSEO DI SAN MARCO
Piazza San Marco 3, Florence
VESTIBOLO DELLA BIBLIOTECA MEDICEA LAURENZIANA
Piazza San Lorenzo 9, Florence
https://www.palazzostrozzi.org/

Captions:

Rothko in Florence, exhibition view, Palazzo Strozzi, Museo di San Marco, Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence, 2026. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio

SUPERFLEX, There Are Other Fish In The Sea, exhibition view. Photo Ela Bialkowska, OKNO Studio. Courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, Firenze. Courtesy Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi

THE EXHIBITIONS IN ROME
After Le Stanze della Fotografia in Venice and the Palazzo Reale in Milan, the Ara Pacis Museum in Rome hosts the exhibition that concludes the trilogy focusing on key aspects of Robert Mapplethorpe’s artistic philosophy. While the previous exhibitions examined classicism and desire, this time beauty is the lens through which to observe the American photographer’s work, documented by approximately two hundred photographs.
The exhibition at MAXXI is entitled Tragicomica. Perspectives on Italian art from the mid-20th century to today. Irony and self-irony, understood as distinctive elements of the Italian tradition, become the filter through which to interpret Italian creative production from the postwar period to the present, bringing together the works of over one hundred artists.

Text by Arianna Testino

INFO
Robert Mapplethorpe. Le forme della bellezza:
until 4 October 2026
MUSEO DELL’ARA PACIS
Via di Ripetta 180, Rome
https://www.arapacis.it/

Tragicomica. Perspectives on Italian art from the mid-20th century to today
until 20 September 2026
MAXXI MUSEO NAZIONALE DELLE ARTI DEL XXI SECOLO
Via Guido Reni 4 A, Rome
https://www.maxxi.art

Captions:

Self Portrait, 1982 © Robert Mapplethorpe Foundation. Used by permission

Paola Pivi, Senza titolo (asino), 2003. Photo Hugo Glendinning. Courtesy Massimo De Carlo and Collezione Giuseppe Iannaccone