AS ART obsessives prepare to flock to the Venice Biennale and its 61st International Arts Exhibition, American multimedia artist Lorna Simpson has an early treat in store, with the support of Bottega Veneta.
Starting this Sunday, her solo exhibition Lorna Simpson. Third Person will commence in the city’s Punta Della Dogana museum. Comprising 50 paintings, sculptures and installations, it marks the most comprehensive curation of her shown work in Europe for over a decade. It also signifies her successful return to the Italian city, having made waves there with her 2015 Biennale debut.
Lorna Simpson wearing Bottega Veneta, March 2026.
Third Person’s main talking points include Simpson’s characteristic conceptual photography and her idiosyncratic Ice, Special Characters and Earth and Sky painting series. Here, each work probes at the construction of images and their inner meaning and addresses the ideas of “representation, collective memory, and the instability of narrative,” that pervade her practice.
Initially exhibited as Lorna Simpson: Source Notes at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art last year, the Venetian iteration casts a spotlight on the artist’s development over the past two decades.
Curated by Emma Lavigne, the General Director and Curator of the Pinault Collection, it features three major ensembles, an impressive 40-part collage installation and bespoke pieces created specifically for the Punta della Dogana. This unmissable event also celebrates Lorna Simpson’s remarkable contribution to modern visual culture.
Lorna Simpson, Tried by Fire (detail), 2017, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth. Installation views, Lorna Simpson. Third Person, 2026, Punta della Dogana, Venezia.
Ph. James Wang © Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection
Lorna Simpson, L.A., 2025, courtesy of the artist and Hauser & Wirth; Cliffs, 2025, Pinault Collection
Installation views, Lorna Simpson. Third Person, 2026, Punta della Dogana, Venezia.
Ph. James Wang © Palazzo Grassi, Pinault Collection
Bolstering this exhibition with their support, Bottega Veneta build on its growing legacy of artistic endorsement. This follows their involvement in the forthcoming ‘If All Time Is Eternally Present’ video exhibition at the Biennale and the selection of Venice as the setting for its 2026 summer campaign. With ‘Lorna Simpson. Third Person’ the heritage house once again affirms its unfaltering commitment to the city’s creativity and the artists who shape it.
by Ella O’Gorman