Spring in Venice isn’t just about blooming gardens and sun-dappled canals—it’s also the season when the city comes alive with incredible art and culture. From Renaissance masterpieces to experimental installations and photography legends, April 2025 brings an extraordinary line-up of exhibitions across Venice’s most iconic venues.
Whether you’re a lover of painting, sculpture, architecture, or photography, here’s your guide to the unmissable art events opening in Venice this month.
✨ Corpi Moderni at Gallerie dell’Accademia
Dates: April 4 – July 27, 2025
Location: Gallerie dell’Accademia, Venice
Step back into Renaissance Venice and discover how the human body was studied, celebrated, and reimagined. The exhibition Corpi Moderni (“Modern Bodies”) brings together a dazzling collection of works by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Albrecht Dürer, Giorgione, and more.
The star of the show? Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man, one of the most iconic—and rarely exhibited—drawings in the world. Surrounding this masterpiece are paintings, drawings, anatomical models, books, clothing, and everyday objects that illuminate how art and science shaped body image in the Renaissance.
🌊 Ocean Space: Environmental Reflections in Art
Opening: April 5, 2025
Location: Chiesa di San Lorenzo
Ocean Space continues its innovative programming with two new exhibitions exploring the intersection of marine ecosystems, art, and activism:
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Otras montañas, las que andan sueltas bajo el agua
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Echoes of the Sanctuary
Entry is free, and the site hosts guided tours, workshops, and lagoon excursions throughout the year.
🏛️ Matthias Schaller – Controfacciata
Dates: April 5 – November 23, 2025
Location: Casa dei Tre Oci, Giudecca
In this captivating photographic series, German artist Matthias Schaller captures the “counter-facades” of Venetian palaces—those semi-hidden spaces rich in light, texture, and history. With 28 images, many created specifically for this show, the exhibition reveals a unique perspective on Venice’s layered architecture and its symbolic bridge between past and present.
🎭 Palazzo Grassi: Tatiana Trouvé – The Strange Life of Things
Dates: April 6, 2025 – January 6, 2026
Palazzo Grassi reopens with a major solo exhibition by Tatiana Trouvé, one of the most poetic and visionary voices in contemporary art. This immersive show combines sculpture, drawing, and site-specific installations, including new works and loans from international collections and the Pinault Collection.
🧬 Punta della Dogana: Thomas Schütte – Genealogies
Dates: From April 6, 2025
Running in parallel to Trouvé’s exhibition, Punta della Dogana hosts the first major Italian show by Thomas Schütte, a German artist known for his ironic, haunting, and deeply human explorations of form. The exhibition spans sculpture, architectural models, photography, and drawings—from the late 1970s to today.
📸 The World of Photography at Le Stanze della Fotografia
Location: Island of San Giorgio Maggiore
Opening: April 10, 2025
Two major retrospectives launch on the same day:
🔲 Robert Mapplethorpe – The Forms of the Classical
Dates: April 10 – November 23, 2025
Curated by Denis Curti, this show features over 200 works, some never before shown in Italy. Mapplethorpe’s compositions blend classical beauty, sensuality, and formal precision, redefining the boundaries between photography and sculpture.
📷 Maurizio Galimberti – Between Polaroid/Ready-Made and Calvino’s American Lessons
Dates: April 10 – July 27, 2025
This vibrant, playful exhibit includes Galimberti’s signature Polaroid mosaics, with portraits of celebrities like Johnny Depp and Barbara Bouchet, cityscapes of New York and Venice, and photographic homages to writer Italo Calvino.
🖼️ Maria Helena Vieira da Silva – Anatomy of Space
Dates: April 12 – September 15, 2025
Location: Peggy Guggenheim Collection
The Guggenheim presents a rare retrospective of Maria Helena Vieira da Silva, the Portuguese-French modernist known for transforming pictorial space into abstract, labyrinthine environments. With nearly 70 works from top museums and private collections, this exhibition is a must-see for lovers of 20th-century abstraction.
🧵 Venice Fashion Research 2025
Dates: April 12 – 15, 2025
Fashion meets craftsmanship in this unique celebration of Made in Italy. The program includes talks, workshops, and immersive experiences across Venice and the Veneto region. It coincides with Italy’s National Day of Made in Italy on April 15.
🔮 1932–1942: Murano Glass at the Venice Biennale
Dates: April 13 – November 23, 2025
Location: Le Stanze del Vetro
This glass-focused exhibition continues the deep dive into Murano’s role in international design history. It highlights a crucial decade when Murano glass featured prominently at the Venice Biennale, from the opening of the Venice Pavilion in 1932 through WWII.
🌍 Beyond Art: Literature and Geopolitics
📚 Incroci di Civiltà – International Literary Festival
Dates: April 2–5, 2025
Venice hosts the 18th edition of this acclaimed literary festival, with readings and panels featuring authors from around the world.
🌐 Festival of European Geopolitics – Mestre
Dates: April 3–5, 2025
A new entry in Venice’s cultural calendar, this festival explores Europe’s role in global politics, with speakers from diplomacy, academia, and journalism.
In Conclusion
April 2025 confirms once again that Venice is not just a city of the past—it’s a hub of living, breathing creativity. Whether you’re drawn to Renaissance anatomy or modern abstraction, geopolitics or photography, there’s something remarkable to discover around every corner.
Plan your visit, and let art guide your way through La Serenissima.
