Luca Zaia
The President of the Veneto Region

A great poet whom we feel at home with—both as a Venetian, due to his family origins, and as a man of letters, because he found inspiration for I Sepolcri in the park of Villa Albrizzi on the outskirts of Treviso—Ugo Foscolo once said: “Art does not consist in representing new things, but in representing them with novelty.”

It is a statement that seems to illuminate the curatorial journey offered by the exhibition From Picasso to Van Gogh. Stories of Painting from Abstraction to Impressionism, which allows visitors to immerse themselves in a succession of masterpieces spanning from the mid-nineteenth century to the 1970s, all within the context of a fourteenth-century complex like Santa Caterina, with its medieval lines and the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century frescoes adorning its walls.

From the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio come to the Marca region works by giants such as Manet, Monet, Degas, Cezanne, Renoir, Gauguin, Van Gogh, Matisse, Picasso, Modigliani, and Mondrian. These are names that embody various artistic movements—different from one another, yet all expressions of that singular form of communication that painting has always been, conveying a universal message of vision and interpretation of reality and the depiction of our world.

I wish to express my appreciation to the Municipal Administration, the curator, and all the organizers for this new and significant cultural event, which opens the doors of Veneto to international masterpieces of the highest prestige. It allows a wide audience to experience these works while simultaneously offering a moment of deep reflection capable of engaging art enthusiasts and sparking curiosity among newcomers or less experienced visitors.

In the past, seeing so many important works would have required a long journey that not everyone could undertake. I think of the growth opportunities this event offers. This exhibition marks the return of great art to Treviso and represents a new chapter in the exhibition landscape for all of Veneto—a land that has always shown great sensitivity toward art of every era, building on the legacy of our centuries-old artistic heritage.

Luca Zaia
President of the Veneto Region