Life Long Beauty Zhang Zhaoying
The Palazzo Grimani Museum is hosting "Lifelong Beauty", the first solo exhibition in Italy by Zhang Zhaoying.
Reviewed by Fabian
10. May 2025
From May 8 to August 3, 2025, the Palazzo Grimani Museum will host Lifelong Beauty, the first solo exhibition in Italy by Zhang Zhaoying—one of the most original voices of China’s New Generation.
Curated by Lü Peng, Li Guohua, and Carlotta Scarpa, the exhibition features 26 paintings that trace the evolution of Zhang's pictorial language from the 1990s to the present day.
Drawing inspiration from the European Renaissance, modernism, and the theatre of the absurd, Zhang Zhaoying creates rich visual narratives layered with cultural references and pop imagery. His work blends Chinese painting traditions with global iconography and visual stratification, evoking theatrical scenes, riddles, and contemporary allegories.
With a technique that is both refined and subversive, Zhang’s paintings reflect on the social, cultural, and technological transformations of our era, exploring themes such as beauty, identity, and truth in a world shaped by information overload.
The exhibition dialogues strikingly with the frescoed rooms of the museum’s second floor—part of the National Archaeological Museums of Venice and the Lagoon, and one of the most captivating examples of Renaissance architecture in the city.
A project that offers a fresh perspective on contemporary Chinese art, bridging past and present in a unique cultural exchange.
"Everything we see hides another thing, we always want to see what is hidden by what we see."
René Magritte
