Giacomo Grosso’s Supreme Meeting

From Greek Art to Contemporay Art Tour

We are taking the opportunity to highlight our upcoming Art Trip Italy and the Venice Biennale 2017 (June 1-11) https://walkthearts.com/_art_tours/art_tour_italy_biennale.shtml

While we have done a lot of art history trips in Italy already, this one will be Walk the Arts very first Art History Survey Trip encompassing arts from the Greek period to the very “Now” (“Nowism”?). This is possible because beside our usual circuit we will visit the 57^th Venice Biennale, the world’s most prestigious international contemporary art exhibit, presenting more than 150 artists from around 38 countries.

By the way, the first Venice Biennale took place on April 30, 1895, and was attended by more than 200,000 visitors. The idea was promoted by the Major of Venice Riccardo Selvatico who aimed to transform the artists’ evening meetings at the renowned Caffè Florian into a prestigious international exhibition. That year, the most controversial work was Giacomo Grosso’s Supreme Meeting, depicting a coffin surrounded by nude female figures. Grosso, a then famous painter, intended to represent the end of a Don Juan. Interestingly, during the 18th century Caffè Florian was the only meeting place that admitted women, which explains why Casanova was a frequent guest.

Now, just imagine this.  We start our trip in Rome, on the very hill where Rome was founded. We will study the Greek heritage which made Rome such a powerful empire. Then, we will walk on the very same bridge where the Emperor Constantin had his dream to allow Christianity to be practised in the Roman Empire…then the Catacombs…

Then, fast forward to Baroque since Rome is also a baroque city… then, Florence in order to understand fully the Renaissance and the Italian 19^th century…then, Venice to experience the best of contemporary art… Fiu! Already overwhelmed. And after an intense day of art immersion, some vino around the corner where we will have dinner.

As all of Walk the Arts art trips, we will be a small group (maximum 12 participants) in order to ensure flexibility and to provide a fun and intimate environment. We stay in small and centrally located hotels; we take high-speed trains to reach our main destinations; we walk a lot and we take the subway and the vaporetto (the bus boat) when necessary.

Ten full days of stimulating artistic experience and what is written here is only a fraction of what you are going to see. All the details in our prospectus available at https://walkthearts.com/PDF/Prospectus_Italy_Venice_2017.pdf

Rest assured that with Walk the Arts you will see and learn a lot since we know extremely well every corner of the cities on the itinerary.