Events and tours

Position: Casa della Musica, Piazza Biagio Marin

From 11^th August to 4^th September, daily from 6 p.m. to 11 p.m.

From 5^th September to 2^nd October, Monday to Saturday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.

From 3^rd October to 27^th October, Thursday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.

FREE ADMISSION, NO RESERVATION REQUIRED at the Casa della Musica, Piazza Biagio Marin

Few artists between the 19th and 20th century can boast such a constant and analytical interest in their works as the Viennese Gustav Klimt, a leading figure among those artists who created modernity, who intuited it and put it into practice, revolutionising the world of figurative arts. And of the 'revolutionary' situation created in Habsburg Vienna at the end of the 19th century, Klimt is certainly the undisputed leader. In the words of Peter Altenberg, who addresses the artist: 'By painting, you are suddenly, almost magically, transformed into the 'most modern of men'.

Grado, a beach of the Empire - still a Central European context and a privileged setting for some of the artists of turn-of-the-century Vienna - intends to celebrate the genius of the Austrian artist with an exhibition that will open on 10 August. And it does so, for the first time, by rereading his work through "different" documents, which showcase his pictorial and graphic masterpieces in print, and which critics have so far only considered marginally.

On display in the 'House of Music' will be a selection of plates from the folders produced respectively by Hugo Heller (Das Werk von Gustav Klimt, 1918), Gilhofer & Ranschburg (Gustav Klimt. Fünfundzwanzig Handzeichnungen, 1919) and Max Eisler (Gustav Klimt. Eine Nachlese, 1931). The former, accompanied by an extraordinary series of graphic symbols, was designed and viewed by the artist, who died in 1918, the year of publication. The last, more than a decade after his death - when the Viennese movement was a faded memory - is a demonstration of the uninterrupted attraction of his work.

The three splendid printed folders collect a significant part of his oeuvre. Their presentation at the 'House of Music' aims to disclose a Klimt outside of museum fruition, but not even confined within the pages of an art volume or fragmented in the vision of an exhibition. The value of the three folders in the exhibition is thus also somehow linked to that concept of the "technical reproducibility" of the work of art that Walter Benjamin was to theorise about just over a decade later.

The extremely high graphic quality of the collotype reproductions in black and colour achieved by the Austrian State Printing House (a result that today, absurdly, is technically unattainable) seems to confirm this and demonstrates how much "autonomous" aesthetic value is contained in these sheets and the folders that contain them, even though they remain a limited edition product that did not pursue a widespread diffusion of Klimti's work, but rather that of reaching a nucleus of specialists and enthusiasts, including the very patrons that made his fortune.

At the same time, they also serve as a fundamental historical document, where one can grasp the selected subjects, the works that in some cases disappeared, the patrons, and the accompanying textual apparatuses. And it goes without saying that their rarity has increased over time to the point of making them objects of high collectibility.

Still with an address to works on paper, the exhibition includes pages and covers of the magazine Ver Sacrum, as well as some posters for the exhibitions of the Viennese Secession, where we find the graphic Klimt, free of commissions and commissions, able to express the full power of his artistic universe even if only through a study or a sketch.

This Klimt on "paper" therefore offers the opportunity not only to have at one's disposal a concentrated review of his masterpieces, but also to enjoy aesthetic products of extraordinary workmanship, a summa of exquisite elegance and executive wisdom, which was the highest goal of the Viennese arts around 1900. In the words of Klimt himself, in his opening speech at the 'Kunstschau 1908': 'We call artists not only the creators but also those who enjoy art, who are able to relive and evaluate artistic creations with their receptive senses. For us, the 'artistic union' is the ideal union of all, creators and recipients of art'.

The exhibition, curated by Roberto Festi, is organised by the Consorzio Grado Turismo and the Municipality of Grado, with the support of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region and the collaboration of the Klimt Foundation in Vienna.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue (in Italian-German) published by Antiga Edizioni.

Position: Via Orseolo, 22, Grado

The Museum of Fishing and Lagoon Civilisation was established to protect and preserve the history and culture of the "Casonera" civilisation, a community that lived permanently in the casoni (fishermen's huts) of the Grado Lagoon until after World War II, developing its own customs and traditions over the centuries, which remained unchanged until the early 20th century.

Opening hours:

MONDAY TO THURSDAY 09:30 - 13:00
FRIDAY TO SUNDAY 09:30 - 13:00/ 17:00 - 20:00

Tours with free explanations, lasting approximately one hour, to discover the museum, every Sunday at 10.30 am.

The tours will be activated with a minimum number of 5 participants. For both the scheduled Sunday illustrations and any extraordinary illustrations for groups, RESERVATION IS MANDATORY by calling during opening hours or sending a Whatsapp message to +39 338 9912068.

Admission to the museum is free of charge.

Position: Auditorium San Rocco, Grado

Vernissage on Tuesday 1 October at 5.00 pm

Exhibition from Wednesday 2 October to Thursday 10 October.

Opening hours:
Morning: 10.00 am - 12.30 pm
Afternoon: 5.00 pm - 7.00 pm

Free entry

Organised by:

University of the Third Age - Grado