History of the Venice Biennale

On 30 April 1895, the I Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte della Città di Venezia (1st International Art Exhibition of the City of Venice) was opened.

In 1907, the first national pavilion opened in the Giardini di Castello (Belgium, designed by Léon Sneyers). Later on followed Hungary (1909), Germany (1909), Great Britain (1909), France (1912), and Russia (1914). Between 1916 and 1918, the Biennale was cancelled because of the First World War.

In 1930, the Biennale was transformed into an Autonomous Board, and passed from the control of the Venice City Council to that of the Italian fascist state. Several new sections were established: the Music Festival in 1930, the International Film Festival in 1932 and the Theatre Festival in 1934. Since 1938, Grand Prizes are awarded in the art exhibition section.

After a six-year break during World War II, the International Art Exhibition reappeared in 1948 with a major exhibition of a recapitulatory nature, and draw a new attention to avant-garde movements in contemporary art.

As a consequence of the student protests and political events in 1968, the Venice Biennale discontinued several of its traditional activities. A period of institutional changes opened, and as a result of the reform process, the Biennale gave itself a new statute in 1973.

The entire edition of 1974 was dedicated to Chile, setting up exhibitions of painted panels (murales), and organising theatrical performances and concerts. This edition was perhaps the largest and most resonant cultural protest against the Chilean dictator, General Pinochet. Many Italian and foreign painters filled the Venetian campi with murales celebrating the freedom of the Chilean people: these many artists constituted the Salvador Allende Brigade. Hortensia Allende, the widow of the assassinated Chilean president, also attended the inaugural ceremonies. No catalogue was printed, but was substituted instead by photocopied booklets regarding each exhibition or performance.

In 1975, the first steps towards an architecture exhibition were taken by La Biennale di Venezia. Within the Visual Arts exhibition, Vittorio Gregotti organized A proposito del Mulino Stucky, on display at the Magazzini del Sale, followed by other architecture exhibitions in 1976 and 1978. In 1980, Paolo Portoghesi was the director of the 1st International Architecture Exhibition, titled La presenza del passato.

In 1980, the first Aperto section for young artists was arranged by Achille Bonito Oliva and Harald Szeemann in the Magazzini del Sale, as part of the 39th Art Exhibition directed by Luigi Carluccio.

In 1998, a new form of organization was established by transforming the former Autonomous Body La Biennale di Venezia into a Cultural Society, a legal entity of private law that took on the status of a Foundation in 2004.

With the 48th International Art Exhibition dAPERTutto (APERTO Over All), the Biennale started to use historical spaces of the Arsenale (Artiglierie, Isolotto, Tese, Gaggiandre) as exhibition venues.

The 50th International Art Exhibition, under the direction of Francesco Bonami, consisted of ten exhibitions, conceived by different curators. Half of them focused on art from Africa, Asia and Latin America, and 5 of the 12 curators originally come from these regions. With this first real opening to the world, the Venice Biennale was part of a trend in the international art system, strongly boosted a year earlier with documenta 11, directed by Okwui Enwezor.

For the first time in its history, the direction of the Biennale Art Exhibition, was headed by two people, and for the first time ever by women, both from Spain: María de Corral and Rosa Martínez.

After the Italian Pavilion moved its permanent seat to the Arsenale in 2006, more and more countries and institutions rented spaces in the Arsenale for their pavilions from 2007 onwards.

As of January 2009, the main offices of the Venice Biennale are located at Ca' Giustinian (San Marco, 1364/A), a palace at short distance from St. Mark's Square. Further offices hosting the Biennale Archives are located at the VEGA, the Venice Gateway for Science and Technologies.

At the 55th International Art Exhibition, several countries presented their national pavilions for the first time at their new permanent seats in the recently restored Sale d'Armi of the Arsenale. In the following years more countries installed their permanent pavilions at this building, and also in other areas of the Arsenale.

Due to Covid-19 protective measures, the 17th International Architecture Exhibition (planned for 2020) and the 59th International Art Exhibition (planned for 2021) are postponed to 2021 and 2022.

When the Biennale Meets History. Exhibition in the Venice Biennale Central Pavilion, Giardini, curated by the artistic directors of all six departments. 29 August - 8 December 2020.

In October 2022, La Biennale announces the start of a new structure, the Centro Internazionale della Ricerca sulle Arti Contemporanee, resulting from the reinforced activities of the Historical Archives of Contemporary Arts (ASAC), whith new offices at the Arsenale, and the Library in the Giardini.
Start of the project “Geopolitical Map of the artists who participated in the Biennale exhibitions of the past 20 years (1999-2020)” in collaboration with Universities and Institutes.

From 2022 on, the Art Biennale takes place in even-numbered years, after the Covid-19 pandemic postponement. 
The 59th International Art Exhibition, curated by Cecilia Alemani, titled The Milk of Dreams, featured 213 artists (a large majority of women), 80 National Participations and 30 Collateral Shows, enjoying the highest attendance ever in 127 years (800,000 visitors).