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Punta della Dogana is an art museum in one of Venice's old customs buildings, the ''Dogana da Mar''. It also refers to the triangular area of Venice where the Grand Canal meets the
Giudecca Canal The Giudecca Canal () is a body of water that flows into the San Marco basin in Venice, Italy. It is one of the major canals in the city, it bisects the ''sestieri'' of Dorsoduro, separating Giudecca island and district from Dorsoduro district. ...
, and its collection of buildings: the church of
Santa Maria della Salute Santa Maria della Salute (; ), commonly known simply as La Salute (), is a Roman Catholic church and minor basilica located at the Punta della Dogana in the Dorsoduro sestiere of the city of Venice, Italy. It stands on the narrow finger of Pun ...
, (hence the area is also known as Punta della Salute), the
Patriarchal Seminary of Venice The Patriarch of Venice (; ) is the ordinary of the Patriarchate of Venice. The bishop is one of only four patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church. The other three are the Patriarch of Lisbon, the Patriarch of the East Indies and ...
, and Dogana da Mar at the triangle's tip.


Geography and history

Punta della Dogana is located between the Grand and Giudecca Canals at the tip of an island in the
Dorsoduro Dorsoduro is one of the six sestiere (Venice), sestieri of Venice, in northern Italy. Dorsoduro includes the highest land areas of the city and also Giudecca island and Isola Sacca Fisola. Its name derives from the Italian language, Italian fo ...
district. Adjacent to each other are the Dogana da Mar, Patriarchal Seminary, and Santa Maria della Salute. It is diagonal from the
Piazza San Marco Piazza San Marco (; ), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal Town Square, public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). The Piazzetta ("little Piazza/Square") is an ext ...
. The point was used for docking and customs as early as the beginning of the 15th century. The temporary structures built to store merchandise and customs workers were replaced by the Punta della Dogana, whose construction began in 1677.


Dogana da Mar

The museum's art is housed in and around the Dogana da Mar building. It was built between 1678 and 1682 as a customs house by
Giuseppe Benoni Giuseppe Benoni (1618–1684) was an Italian architect, active during the Baroque period, mainly in Venice. Biography He was born either in Udine or Trento. He worked on a number of engineering problems for the Venetian Republic. He appears to hav ...
. The
arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated video, pinball, electro-mechanical, redemption, etc., game ** Arcade video game, a coin-operated video game ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade video game's hardware ** Arcad ...
styles reflect their construction in different eras. Atop the building are two statues of
Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of world map, maps of Earth or of a continent or region of Earth. Advances in astronomy have also resulted in atlases of the celestial sphere or of other planets. Atlases have traditio ...
holding a golden globe upon which the figure of ''Fortune'' stands. The 17th-century statue turns in the wind. The group was built by Bernardo Falconi to represent the supremacy of the
Republic of Venice The Republic of Venice, officially the Most Serene Republic of Venice and traditionally known as La Serenissima, was a sovereign state and Maritime republics, maritime republic with its capital in Venice. Founded, according to tradition, in 697 ...
. The last renovation of the building was done by Alvise Pigazzi in 1838.


Restoration

The building was restored by
Tadao Ando is a self-taught Japanese autodidact architect known for his unique integration of architecture and landscape. Architectural historian Francesco Dal Co described his work as an example of " critical regionalism". Ando received the prestigious ...
from January 2008 to March 2009, funded by
François Pinault François Pinault (born 21 August 1936) is a French billionaire businessman, founder of the luxury group Kering and the investment holding company Artémis. Pinault started his business in the timber industry in the early 1960s. Taken public i ...
, a French billionaire and art collector. He signed a 33-year agreement with the city. The building had been empty for decades prior, with failed plans to turn it into apartments or a hotel. Dogana da Mar's stuccoed brick exterior was restored without additions, and is the only part of the original structure left intact. Cosmetic imperfections and the stucco were repaired, and bad areas were reinforced with stainless steel anchors, but areas with visible brick were left exposed. The interiors were left bare without surface treatment, and bricks were replaced sparingly. The room partitions from the last two centuries were replaced with parallel, rectangular halls. The roof was replaced by a similar roof with timber gables, with added skylights. The new floors are made of exposed and polished concrete, in some places covered with linoleum. Frank Peter Jäger called these smooth surfaces Ando's trademark, along with glass and steel fixtures that clash with the raw irregularities of the unfinished walls. He added that, for Ando, this combination "symbolizes the union of past, present, and future", the building, his architecture, and the art within it, respectively. Ando wanted to make the western entrance's face out of concrete slabs, but the change was opposed by the city. Exibart's Jacqueline Ceresoli described the building as having "industrial and minimalist soul" with red brick walls. The renovation cost was .


Exhibitions

In June 2009, Punta della Dogana reopened to the public and since then has been presenting temporary exhibitions of the Pinault Collection: * ''Mapping the Studio: Artists from the François Pinault Collection'', curated by
Francesco Bonami Francesco Bonami (b. Florence, 1955) is an Italian art curator and writer. He lives in Milan and Manhattan, New York.Rachel Wolff (February 14, 2010)112 Minutes With Francesco Bonami''New York Magazine''. Life and career Bonami was born in Floren ...
and Alison Gingeras. Presented at Punta della Dogana and
Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele. History First owners During the 16th ...
, June 2009 – April 2011 * ''In Praise of Doubt'', curated by Caroline Bourgeois, April 2011 – March 2013 * ''Prima Materia'', curated by Caroline Bourgeois and Michael Govan, May 2013 – February 2015 * ''Slip of the Tongue'', curated by Danh Vo in collaboration with Caroline Bourgeois, April 2015 – January 2016 * ''Accrochage'', curated by Caroline Bourgeois, April 2016 – November 2016 * ''Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable.
Damien Hirst Damien Steven Hirst (; né Brennan; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist and art collector. He was one of the Young British Artists (YBAs) who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest ...
'', curated by Elena Geuna. Presented at Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi. April 2017 – December 2017 * ''Dancing with Myself'', curated by Martin Bethenod and Florian Ebner, April 2018 – December 2018 * ''Luogo e Segni'', curated by Mouna Mekouar and Martin Bethenod, March 2019 – December 2019 * ''Untitled 2020. Three Perspectives on The Art of The Present'', curated by Caroline Bourgeois, Muna El Fituri and Thomas Houseago, July - November 2020 * ''Bruce Nauman: Contrapposto Studies'', curated by Carlos Basualdo and Caroline Bourgeois, May 2021 - November 2022 ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
''s Elisa Carmichael called Punta della Dogana's ''Prima Materia'' show of about 80 works from the Pinault Collection an "absolute must-see" outside of the 2013
Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...
. Exibart's Jacqueline Ceresoli had similar praise for the show. François Pinault commissioned a statue for the tip of Punta della Dogana from Charles Ray upon receiving approval from the city to start the museum. Ray made an eight-foot-tall boy holding a frog by its leg intended as a public sculpture called ''Boy with Frog''. The sculpture's permit was set to be negotiated four times annually. ''Boy with Frog'' was originally encased upon the museum's July 2009 opening after protests following its installation. The city moved in early 2013 to replace the statue with a reproduction of the streetlamp once situated there. Its spokesperson said that the sculpture's installation was designed to be temporary. Ray refused an offer to relocate the sculpture to
Palazzo Grassi Palazzo Grassi (also known as the Palazzo Grassi-Stucky) is a building in the Venetian Classical style located on the Grand Canal of Venice (Italy), between the Palazzo Moro Lin and the campo San Samuele. History First owners During the 16th ...
, opting to put the sculpture into storage. Independent curator
Francesco Bonami Francesco Bonami (b. Florence, 1955) is an Italian art curator and writer. He lives in Milan and Manhattan, New York.Rachel Wolff (February 14, 2010)112 Minutes With Francesco Bonami''New York Magazine''. Life and career Bonami was born in Floren ...
wrote in ''
La Stampa (English: "The Press") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Turin with an average circulation of 87,143 copies in May 2023. Distributed in Italy and other European nations, it is one of the oldest newspapers in Italy. Until the late 1970 ...
'' that the removal was "administrative cowardice" and the lamppost represented "cultural darkness".


See also

*
List of buildings and structures in Venice This is a list of buildings and structures in Venice, Italy. A * Procuratie#Procuratie Nuovissime (Napoleonic Wing), Ala Napoleonica * Venetian Arsenal, Arsenal * Ateneo Veneto B * Biblioteca Marciana C * Ca' da Mosto * Ca' d'Oro * Ca' ...


References


Bibliography

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Further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Punta della Dogana Buildings and structures completed in 1682 Dorsoduro Geography of Venice Buildings and structures in Venice Museums in Venice Art museums and galleries in Veneto Baroque architecture in Venice 2009 establishments in Italy Contemporary art galleries in Italy Grand Canal (Venice)