Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana

Venice has become one of the world's great cities for contemporary art, and the Pinault Collection is a big part of the reason. The French collector François Pinault, owner of one of the largest private collections of contemporary art anywhere, took over Palazzo Grassi, the last great palace built on the Grand Canal before the fall of the Republic, in the mid-2000s, and then won the competition to restore the Punta della Dogana, the triangular seventeenth-century customs house at the point where the Grand Canal meets the Giudecca Canal, below the domes of the Salute. Both buildings were remodelled by the Japanese architect Tadao Ando, whose smooth concrete walls, precise light and calm spaces make a striking counterpoint to the old brick and timber; at the Punta della Dogana, the long brick warehouses with their massive wooden trusses are one of the best exhibition spaces in Europe, and the views from the windows across the lagoon are spectacular. Until now, both venues have run long temporary exhibitions drawn from the collection or devoted to single artists. That model is changing: from 21 March 2027, Palazzo Grassi becomes the permanent home of the Pinault Collection, with a display of more than one hundred major works, while the Punta della Dogana continues with temporary exhibitions. The 2026 season paired Amar Kanwar and Michael Armitage at Palazzo Grassi with Lorna Simpson and Paulo Nazareth at the Punta della Dogana, and the next Punta della Dogana show, from 21 March 2027, is devoted to Tadao Ando himself and the Japanese Mono-ha movement.

Timing matters here more than anywhere else in Venice. During exhibition periods both venues open every day except Tuesday, with last entry an hour before closing, and they close between shows to install the next one. As of late 2026, the Punta della Dogana's current shows end on 22 November 2026 and the venue reopens on 21 March 2027; Palazzo Grassi's shows run to 10 January 2027, after which it closes to install the new permanent display, opening on 21 March 2027. If your trip falls in the gap, the buildings themselves are still worth seeing from outside, and the Punta della Dogana's point is one of the city's best free viewpoints. Always check the official programme before you go; tickets are sold online and at the door, with a combined option for both venues when both are open.

How to visit: Palazzo Grassi is on the San Marco side of the Grand Canal, at the San Samuele stop, a short walk from Campo Santo Stefano and the Accademia Bridge; the Punta della Dogana is in Dorsoduro, beside the Salute stop. You can walk between them in about fifteen minutes via the Accademia Bridge, or cross on the traghetto when it runs. Each venue takes one to two hours. The Palazzo Grassi bookshop and café, and the Teatrino, a smaller Ando-designed auditorium beside the palace that hosts talks and screenings, round out the visit.

Who it suits: anyone who follows contemporary art, and travellers who have seen the Renaissance highlights and want a different Venice. It pairs naturally with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, which is a few minutes from the Punta della Dogana along the Dorsoduro waterfront, and with the Biennale in Biennale years. Families with teenagers often enjoy the scale and surprise of contemporary installations more than old-master galleries. The permanent display from 2027 will make Palazzo Grassi a reliable year-round stop for the first time, so if you visit after March 2027 you can plan it like any other museum.