Venice Biennale 2022: Best Pavilions

The Venice Biennale is the mother of all art biennials. These juried or curated displays of the best work by living artists aren’t exactly ubiquitous, but there are hundreds of them now, with the Whitney Biennial the most famous in America. The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, now 252 years old, embraces the same concept, as did annual salon exhibitions in Paris and the early World’s Fairs, many of which had international pavilions. The Biennale, though, is the biggest and oldest of the glitzy art fairs.

The city council in Venice authorized the first Biennale in 1893 to commemorate the 25th anniversary King Umberto I’s coronation. Umberto had a sad end, shot to death by a lefty anarchist in 1900, which heralded a century of violent death among marquee heads of state. Leon Czolgosz said he shot President McKinley dead a year later in emulation of Umberto’s murderer.

About the Author

Brian T. Allen

Brian T. Allen is National Review’s art critic.

The Venice Biennale is the mother of all art biennials. These juried or curated displays of the best work by living artists aren’t exactly ubiquitous, but there are hundreds of them now, with the Whitney Biennial the most famous in America. The annual Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy, now 252 years old, embraces the same concept, as did annual salon exhibitions in Paris and the early World’s Fairs, many of which had international pavilions. The Biennale, though, is the biggest and oldest of the glitzy art fairs.

The city council in Venice authorized the first Biennale in 1893 to commemorate the 25th anniversary King Umberto I’s coronation. Umberto had a sad end, shot to death by a lefty anarchist in 1900, which heralded a century of violent death among marquee heads of state. Leon Czolgosz said he shot President McKinley dead a year later in emulation of Umberto’s murderer.