Fortuny Museum Museum

Fortuny Museum, an artist-inventor's studio

The Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei, built in the second half of the 15th century, is one of the largest private palaces of late Venetian Gothic. Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, a Spanish artist based in Venice, set up his first studio there in 1898 before gradually acquiring the various parts of the building and turning it into a home, workplace and true laboratory of creation. The palace has housed the museum devoted to him since 1975.

A painter, photographer, printmaker, stage designer, inventor and creator of fabrics and clothing, Fortuny worked here with his partner and later wife, Henriette Nigrin, who played an essential role in the textile studio. From 1907, a significant part of the palace was devoted to the production of silks, printed velvets and clothing. Fabrics, paintings, photographs, lamps, antique objects and personal mementoes now bring back this particularly eclectic creative world.

The first floor preserves the spirit of Mariano and Henriette's home-studio. Highlights include the spectacular Winter Garden, a decorative scheme painted by Fortuny from 1915 over some 140 m², along with his studio, his paintings, his collections and the rooms devoted to fashion. The second floor more directly presents his research into printmaking, textile printing, photography, theatre and lighting, including his former working library.

The ground floor also hosts temporary exhibitions of modern and contemporary art, often conceived in dialogue with the palace's history. The visit thus remains very different from that of a classic museum: the works and objects are set within spaces that retain the atmosphere of a home, a studio and a cabinet of curiosities, revealing as much about Fortuny's work as about the world in which he created it.

Sources and further information

Museo Fortuny - MUVE; Palace and museum history; Layout and collections; Practical information and tickets.