Back in college, I used to flip through art magazines, lingering over photos of the Venice Biennale—this sprawling, city-wide exhibition that turns Venice into a playground of contemporary art. I imagined wandering its halls, breathing in the creative energy, feeling the pulse of the art world in one of the most beautiful cities on Earth. This year, I finally made it. From April 20 to November 24, 2024, the 60th Venice Biennale, curated by Adriano Pedrosa, unfolded across the Giardini, Arsenale, and beyond, spilling into palazzos, gardens, and forgotten corners of the city. The theme, Foreigners Everywhere, explored identity, migration, and belonging—a fitting reflection of Venice itself, a place shaped by centuries of movement and exchange.
Venice is a city designed to make you lose yourself. You step onto a quiet, narrow street, thinking you know where you’re going, and suddenly—you don’t. But that’s the beauty of it. The same can be said of the Biennale. There’s no straight path, no single way to experience it. You just wander, letting the art find you. Some pieces stopped me in my tracks, demanding time and attention. Two, in particular, left me spellbound.
The Biennale isn’t just an art exhibition—it’s a reminder of why art matters. It challenges, it comforts, it sparks conversations in a hundred different languages. As I left, Venice was golden in the late afternoon light, its canals rippling like paint stroked across water. I thought about the next Biennale, two years away. I don’t know what stories it will tell, but I know one thing—I’ll be back to get lost in it all over again.
Inside the Applied Arts Pavilion, Beatriz Milhazes’ work vibrated with life. The Brazilian artist presented five new large-scale paintings, bursting with color, movement, and patterns that pulled from tropical flora, baroque motifs, and traditional textiles. Her work felt like Venice itself—layered, ornate, impossible to take in all at once. But what made this exhibition even more special was its pairing with woven textiles from different cultures, creating a conversation between painting and craft, tradition and innovation.
"Color is what makes everything happen. If the combination of colors is not right, the work is not finished."
- Beatriz Milhazes
Milhazes has this way of making art feel like music—each shape, each brushstroke a note in a symphony of color. Standing in front of her work, I felt that rare, electric moment when art transcends the canvas and becomes something you can feel.
