The world of the Visual Arts...

Venice Biennial 2026 - Part I (Giardini)

In October 2024, Koyo Kouoh accepted the Venice Biennale's invitation to curate the 61st International Art Exhibition. By early May 2025, she had already defined the theoretical framework, selected the participants and artworks. The authors of the catalogue, graphic identity, and exhibition architecture had also been determined. Koyo Kouoh intended to present all of this on May 20th, but she passed away unexpectedly ten days earlier, on May 10th, 2025. The Venice Biennale then decided to proceed with the exhibition according to her plans, together with the curatorial team she herself had appointed.

While the 61st Biennale is based on Koyo Kouoh's concepts, it is also a tribute to her, resulting in one of the most poetic exhibitions to date.

Untitled (from The Affirmative Happiness of a Green Dot), by Hala Schoukair (2019)

Technique: acrylic on canvas

Flower, by María Magdalena Campos-Pons (2026)

Material: resin

In Giardini, visitors are invited to connect with the earth and life through a hopeful message of comfort and transcendence. Commentary on world events and current crises is absent; instead, the emphasis is on reconnecting with the natural habitat and the role of art in society: emotion, visuality, and sensory experience. Editors and critics agree that it is diplomatic and healing, and it's true: those of us fortunate enough to experience it firsthand left feeling comforted, as if we had received a hug from a dear friend. What predominates? Flowers as a recurring motif, for example, the giant orchid by María Magdalena Campos-Pons, among others.

(To be continued...)

10:34 p.m.
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Sang Woo Kim

Temporary Exhibitions

Among the side exhibitions of the 2026 Venice Biennale, the show AURA by artist Sang Woo Kim (Korea, 1994) stands out at AMA Venezia. There, small portraits explore the identity and cultural experience of an artist living outside his birthplace.

In most of the paintings, faces appear fragmented—rendered in such a way that it remains unclear whether they depict a self-portrait or an unidentified subject—yet the most recurring motif is that of the eyes. Both the small scale and the intimacy of the depicted figure draw the viewer closer to the inner world of this artist, who delights us with his impeccable, virtually photorealistic technique.

You’re looking at me 012, by Sang Woo Kim (2026)

Technique: Oil on canvas / Measures: 36 x 26 x 3 cm

Closer 021, by Sang Woo Kim (2025)

Technique: Oil on canvas / Measures: 40 x 30 cm

Closer 009, by Sang Woo Kim (2024)

Technique: Oil on canvas / Measures: 45 x 35 cm

Clarity 001, by Sang Woo Kim (2020)

Technique: Oil on canvas / Measures: 51,5 x 41 cm

10:31 p.m.
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Gerhard Richter III... (final)

20th Century

For the 1971 Venice Biennale, Gerhard Richter represented Germany through a series of portraits of international figures in Culture and Science. He created an installation of 48 portraits of scientists, philosophers, writers, and composers in black and white. The images emerged from consultations with encyclopedias and history books, which Richter then translated into oil paintings. The selection is notable for the absence of women, religious or political figures, and artists.

To complete the series, Richter committed to painting two portraits a day of similar dimensions, a task requiring high concentration and impeccable execution. Regarding the installation in the German Pavilion, these "photopaintings" (a hybrid genre) were placed side by side, in a row, at the average eye level of the observer. He also considered the architecture of the space to evoke a mausoleum with his installation.

German Pavilion, Venice Biennale 1971

12:16 p.m.
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Gerhard Richter II... (To be continued)

20th Century

“I always wanted to make beautiful paintings. When I painted the candles… I did experience feelings to do with contemplation, remembering, silence and death."

Gerhard Richter

Gerhard Richter's Candle series belongs to the tradition of the "memento mori," a pictorial device that alludes to the inevitability of death. Throughout the artist's creative career, candles have acquired a singular significance, possibly related to his interest in the vanitas paintings of the 16th and 17th centuries. In an interview, Richter noted that candles not only evoke human finitude but also represent a form of silent protest against anti-democratic regimes. What began as a small painting evolved into a significant series, about which the artist commented: "It became something over which I no longer had control."

Regarding the technique employed, it is worth noting that the work simulates a blurred photograph; however, it is an oil painting meticulously executed from a photographic image, blurring the boundaries between the two mediums and resulting in a photorealistic painting. Richter's intention was to reproduce, through the use of the brush, the effect achieved by the camera, capturing reality as it is.