Dries Van Noten—the Belgian designer celebrated for his masterful use of color and print, and for the extraordinary poetic sensibility with which he has shaped the history of international fashion—chose Venice to give form to his deepest philosophical vision.

Following his retirement from the runway in 2024, the Antwerp-based master, together with his partner Patrick Vangheluwe, inaugurated the Dries Van Noten Foundation in 2026 with a magnificent exhibition titled *The Only True Protest is Beauty*. It was a journey through haute couture, art, and design in which beauty shed the guise of mere decorative aesthetics to become an act of revolution and human dialogue.

Venice is a city shaped by water and imagination, where craftsmanship has the power to transform the ephemeral into the eternal.

(Dries Van Noten and Patrick Vangheluwe)

Palazzo Pisani Moretta: a magnificent residence on the Grand Canal

Palazzo Pisani Moretta—one of Venice’s most captivating architectural gems—serves as the setting for this extraordinary exhibition. Built in the second half of the 15th century, the palazzo is a sublime example of the Venetian Gothic style, renowned for the two elegant multi-light windows gracing its mail floor.

The palazzo acquired its current appearance in the 18th century, when the visionary Chiara Pisani spearheaded a bold Rococo transformation. She replaced the original Gothic staircases with a monumental internal staircase and commissioned the era’s greatest masters—including Giambattista Tiepolo—to adorn the ceilings with exquisite frescoes. From Tsar Paul of Russia to Joséphine Bonaparte, the palazzo has long played host to distinguished guests. Today, the Dries Van Noten Foundation embraces this extraordinary legacy, transforming the building into a vibrant laboratory for contemporary dialogue.

A journey through fashion, art, and fine craftsmanship

Spanning the majestic ground floor and the two levels of the main floor, the exhibition unfolds across 20 rooms curated by Dries Van Noten and Patrick Vangheluwe; here, over 200 works by established and emerging talents engage in a dialogue with the palazzo’s frescoes and magnificent historic stucco work.

Fashion runs through the entire exhibition as a unifying thread. Among the most striking juxtapositions are 15 archival silhouettes by Christian Lacroix—including the iconic 1988 design featuring a cross, which appeared on the cover of Vogue, and a 2009 wedding gown—creating a poetic dialogue that pairs French sartorial mastery with Venetian decorative tradition.

The dialogue extends to the contemporary realm, embracing the work of Palestinian designer Ayham Hassan—a breakout runway talent—who captivates exhibition-goers with a leather gown featuring silvery slash details.

Across the various rooms, exceptional craftsmanship and material exploration manifest in unexpected forms:
Kaori Kurihara’s ceramics: beneath ceilings frescoed with scenes of banquets and feasts, the Japanese ceramicist’s organic works—rich in meticulous detail—evoke natural and botanical forms against a backdrop of Bevilacqua fabrics.

Codognato’s Memento Mori jewelry: in the hall crowned by Jacopo Guarana’s famous fresco, legendary *memento mori* masterpieces by the historic Venetian jeweler Codognato prompt a profound reflection on the transience of life and memory, displayed alongside conceptual garments and fine art photography.

Joseph Arzoumanov’s sculptures: in the magnificent Music Room, the French-Armenian artist stages a lavish chess match using precious materials, recreating the chain of events that led to his grandparents meeting during the Cold War by combining traditional craftsmanship from around the globe with robotics and artificial intelligence.

Ann Carrington: inside the historic votive chapel, the British artist transforms the domestic into the divine with compositions of flowers and spiraling tusks crafted entirely from repurposed cutlery.

Thank you, Dries Van Noten—please keep making the world, and Venice, so beautiful.

The Secret

The palazzo is renowned for being one of the few along the Grand Canal that preserves the evocative tradition of period lighting using real wax candles. Eighteenth-century stucco artists (including masters working in the wake of Giuseppe Torretto) created a continuous frame of gold and white reliefs for the Pisani family. The purpose was not merely decorative: the raised stucco work was designed to catch the flickering candlelight from below, creating dynamic plays of shadow that brought the figures painted on the vaulted ceilings to life during evening festivities.

Useful Info

Fondazione Dries Van Noten
Palazzo Pisani Moretta
San Polo, 2766
30125 Venezia
info@fondazionedriesvannoten.org

Admission: via Friend Card from €22. As Palazzo Pisani Moretta is a private historic residence, access to the exhibition is available exclusively through the “Become a Friend” membership card, created to support the Foundation’s activities and the preservation of its heritage.