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In Dale Chihuly’s mind, there is “nothing that possibly compares to Venice.” The Italian city’s “light, history, and breathtaking architecture,” he continues, “have been a constant source of inspiration for me.” Indeed, the master glassblower has harbored a fascination with Venice that can be traced back decades. In 1996, he exhibited Chihuly Over Venice, comprising 14 chandeliers suspended over canals, markets, bridges, and courtyards throughout the city. Now, exactly 30 years later, Chihuly triumphantly returns to Venice with a new set of three glassblown sculptures.
These monumental works are installed along the Grand Canal as part of Chihuly: Venice 2026, an aptly-titled exhibition that hints at the artist’s enduring connection with the city. Keeping with the rest of Chihuly’s oeuvre, these pieces are equally serpentine and unexpected, vibrating with bold colors, tangled forms, and a graphic sense of movement. One sculpture, for instance, bursts with red, orange, and blue tendrils, resembling a fiery explosion that cannot be contained. Another piece is more lateral, its golden threads illuminated and vertically climbing toward the sky. Completing the series is yet another glassy, tentacle-like cluster, this time boasting cooler tones. With its vibrant greens and deep blues, the sculpture seems to mimic Venice’s waterways, repurposing an aquatic palette to fully harmonize with its surroundings.
In many ways, retrospection lies at the heart of Chihuly: Venice 2026. After all, the exhibition marks the anniversary of Chihuly Over Venice, which became the subject of a PBS documentary and attracted millions of viewers in the United States. Following the landmark project, Chihuly quickly gained recognition for his pioneering glass sculptures, whose structural and technical sensibility, the artist acknowledges, is deeply influenced by Venetian tradition. This dialogue, though, emerged long before the artist’s 1996 exhibition, originating instead in 1968 during a Fulbright Fellowship. The program took Chihuly to the Venini glass factory on Murano, where he experienced firsthand the island’s rich legacy of glassblowing, which dates back to the 13th century.
From there, it didn’t take long for Chihuly to experiment with a Venetian approach to glass. By the time he returned to the U.S., he began sharing his knowledge with other American artists, co-founding the Pilchuck Glass School near Seattle in 1971 and recruiting Italian artists to teach there. This relationship undoubtedly grounded Chihuly Over Venice three decades ago, and once again grounds Chihuly: Venice 2026 in the present day.
“For us, coming back to Venice is just necessary,” Leslie Jackson Chihuly, the artist’s wife and Chihuly Studio’s president and CEO, said as she inaugurated the new exhibition. “It’s our home.”
The three installations are accompanied by a showcase at the Istituto Veneto di Scienze, where visitors can encounter drawings, photographs, videos, and archival materials that chart the evolution of Chihuly’s practice, as well as the making of Chihuly Over Venice.
“Venice has always been a crucible for Chihuly, a place where he confronted tradition, expanded his vocabulary, and embraced the creative risks that transformed his work,” Suzanne Geiss, the exhibition’s curator, remarked. “Chihuly: Venice 2026 brings that history full circle.”
Chihuly: Venice 2026 will be on view through November 14, 2026, at the Istituto Veneto and alongside the Grand Canal.
Three decades after his iconic Chihuly Over Venice exhibition, master glassblower Dale Chihuly returns to the Italian city with Chihuly: Venice 2026.
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The presentation, which coincides with the Venice Biennale, showcases three glass sculptures alongside the city’s Grand Canal, with a presentation of archival materials at the nearby Istituto Veneto.
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Exhibition Information:
Dale Chihuly
Chihuly: Venice 2026
May 5–November 14, 2026
Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti
San Marco 2945 – 30124, Venice, Italy
Dale Chihuly: Website | Instagram
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