Alex Katz 11 Must-See Venice Shows to Visit during the Biennale in 2024

As April begins, anticipation is building for the 60th Venice Biennale, often considered the most important art event in the world. The international exhibition this year, titled “Foreigners Everywhere” and curated by Adriano Pedrosa, will feature 331 artists, focusing those that explore how humans exist across boundaries—national borders as well as intangible ones, such as sexuality and gender. Meanwhile, the Biennale’s national pavilions are readying a stellar lineup of artists, many of whom are representing their own crossed thresholds. Jeffrey Gibson, for instance, will be the first Indigenous artist to solely represent the U.S. at the event.

But the “art world Olympics,” as it’s frequently called, also brings along with it a wealth of shows, both collateral events and those at Venice’s institutions that coincide with the temperature-taking main exhibition. Between April and November, the city’s museums, as well as international art galleries and organizations, take advantage of the influx of artists, gallerists, and VIPs to show world-class exhibitions, from huge artist surveys to mammoth group shows and cutting-edge takes on what contemporary art means today.

Here, Artsy selects the best shows to see between the spritzes and cicchetti.

Alex Katz, “Claire, Grass and Water”

Fondazione Giorgio Cini

Apr. 17–Sep. 29

“Claire, Grass and Water” offers a vivid glimpse into Alex Katz’s ability to capture the essence of his subjects with clarity and vibrancy—be it a roiling expanse of ocean at night, a lush patch of grass, or a sartorially inclined figure. Curated by Luca Massimo Barbero and supported by Thaddaeus Ropac, the show is set against the scenic backdrop of the island of San Giorgio Maggiore, where the Fondazione Giorgio Cini is located. Featuring works from 2021 and 2022, it follows the artist’s blockbuster 2022–23 Guggenheim retrospective, yet offers a fresh view into his recent practice. As the title suggests, the show includes striking, large-scale interpretations of nature and figurative works featuring “Claire”—references to the fashion designer Claire McCardell. The latter paintings, splicing together different outfits by McCardell in an almost Cubist fashion, pay homage to the simple elegance of the early 20th-century designer, who is responsible for so much of what we now understand as “The American Look.”