Schaller’s project began in Venice in 2004 and is now brought together in this publication, which features sixty-nine photographs portraying the architectural anomaly of the controfacciata in Venetian palaces—specifically, the anterior/central space of the piano nobile: the portego. Schaller photographs it in semi-darkness, penetrated by a dazzling light that fades the colors of the furnishings. In his perspective, the controfacciata becomes a bridge between past and present, tradition and contemporaneity.

Through a masterful use of analog photography—later digitized and reworked to enhance the desaturated tones—Schaller captures the interplay between Venetian architecture and the city’s atmosphere. His work offers more than architectural views: they are poetic compositions that unite interior and exterior, transforming the photographed spaces into metaphysical still lifes, bearing witness to the powerful symbolic link between the urban landscape and human existence.

The sixty-nine photographs are introduced by texts by Mario Codognato, director of Berggruen Arts & Culture, and Silvio Fassi, architect, who illustrates the uniqueness of the portego, a distinctive feature of Venetian palaces.

“The interior, in my vision, constitutes an interpretation of a cultural reality; I draw on the controfacciate as a historian would—starting from the past to look toward the present.”
— Matthias Schaller