Dale Chihuly’s Enduring Dialogue With Venice

The 84-year-old glass artist Dale Chihuly lives and works in Seattle. But in 1996, he turned Italy into his gallery. That’s when “Chihuly Over Venice” and his 14 monumental chandeliers appeared over bridges and piazze, transforming La Serenissima into an ephemeral exhibition that paid homage to centuries of Italian glassmaking. It was 1968 when Chihuly first arrived in Venice as a Fulbright scholar, after studying design and architecture at the University of Washington and earning MS and MFA degrees from the University of Wisconsin–Madison and RISD, respectively. The experience not only sparked interest in his signature material but also its potential for monumental public art. Last May, he returned for “Chihuly: Venice 2026,” its three new sculptures installed along the Grand Canal. Cascades of curling handblown-glass elements form translucent columns of blue, green, and gold glass. At the nearby Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti, drawings, photographs, and videos chart the evolution of the sculptor’s process from those early Venetian days. “Its light, its history, its architecture,” Chihuly says of the city, “they’ve been a constant source of inspiration.” chihuly.com