Manet: Return to Venice is the name of the exhibition  in the monumental rooms of the Doge’s Palace. Curated by Stéphane Guégan, with the scientific direction of Guy Cogeval and Gabriella Belli, the show includes some 80 paintings, drawings and prints, and has been planned with the special collaboration of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris, which possesses the largest number of masterpieces by this extraordinary painter.

According to its curatorial proposition, the exhibition arises from a need to undertake a critical survey of the cultural models that inspired the young Manet when he embarked on a career as painter early in life. These models, which have hitherto referred almost exclusively to the influence of Spanish painting on his art, actually included much Italian Renaissance art, as the Venetian exhibition will show: alongside his masterpieces, there will also be a series of exceptional studies inspired by great 16th-century Venetian paintings, from Titian to Tintoretto and Lotto in particular.

The exhibition layout, which guides the visitor past great masterpieces, such as Le fifre (1866), La lecture (1865-73), Le balcon (1869), Portrait de Mallarmé (ca. 1876) drawn from his entire artistic life, opens with a series of free interpretations of Old Masters, frescos and sculptures, which Manet saw during his first two journeys to Italy in 1853 and 1857.

The catalogue is published by Skira-Milan with texts by: Roberto Calasso, Guy Cogeval, Stéphane Guégan, Gabriella Belli, Flavio Fergonzi and Cesare De Seta.

Curated by the artist himself in collaboration with Elena Geuna, the exhibition Rudolf Stingel unfolds over the atrium and both upper floors of Palazzo Grassi, a space of over 5,000 square meters. For the first time, Palazzo Grassi is devoting the entirety of its space to the work of a single artist. It includes a site-specific installation as well as recent creations and previously unseen paintings. This is Stingel’s largest ever monographic presentation in Europe.

Conceived by Rudolf Stingel expressly for Palazzo Grassi, the project spreads over all the rooms of the building, where carpeting based on an oriental rug covers the entire surface of the walls and floors. The installation is part of Stingel’s artistic research, which has always analysed the relationship between exhibition space and artistic intervention: for the artist, the carpet is a medium through which painting relates to its architectural context. The exhibition presents a selection of over thirty paintings from collections around the world, including the artist’s collection and that of French billionaire François Pinault (born 1936, in Champs-Geraux, France).

Many of these works were created in the studios of Merano and New York specifically for this project.

Born in 1956, Rudolf Stingel lives and works between New York and Merano, his hometown. His work has been at the centre of several exhibitions in numerous international institutions, including the Secession, Vienna (2012); the Neue National Galerie, Berlin (2010); the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2007); the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt (2004); the Museo d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Trento (2001). He took part in the Venice Biennial in 1993 and 2003.

At Palazzo Grassi, his work has been presented in the exhibitions Where Are We Going? (2006), Sequence 1 (2007), Mapping the Studio (2009-2010) and The World Belongs to You (2011).

Elena Geuna, born in 1960, is an independent curator and contemporary art advisor. Her main curatorial museum projects include exhibitions Jeff Koons (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples, 2003; Château de Versailles, 2008); Fontana: Luce e Colore (Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, 2008); Zhang Huan: Ashman (PAC, Milan, 2010); Arte Povera in Moscow (Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, 2011). In 2012, she curated the exhibitions Quilling and Freedom not Genius. Works from Damien Hirst’s Murderme collection at Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli in Turin.