Lee Ufan Venice Biennale Retrospective

The exhibition, organized by the Dia Art Foundation and curated by its director Jessica Morgan, will be held at the San Marco Art Centre (SMAC Venice). Spanning eight of the center's galleries in the Procuratie in Piazza San Marco, the show will trace the evolution of Lee's visual language over seven decades. This retrospective coincides with the artist's 90th birthday. In addition to historical paintings and large-scale installations, the exhibition will feature a new, site-specific commission. Concurrently, Dia Beacon in New York will unveil a new display of his paintings and sculptures. Lee is a seminal figure in the avant-garde Mono-ha (School of Things) movement that emerged in Japan in the late 1960s. Mono-ha rejected traditional representation, focusing instead on the relationship between natural and industrial materials, such as stone and steel plates, and the spaces they inhabit. He is also a key contributor to the Korean Dansaekhwa (monochromatic painting) movement. Many of his works explore the encounter between the painted and unpainted, the occupied and the empty space, often through minimal, repeated gestures. This is not Lee's first appearance at the prestigious Venice event; his work was featured at the 2011 Biennale. In 2015, he had a major installation of new works as part of "Dansaekhwa," another official Collateral Event. The artist was recently awarded the 2026 Wolfgang Hahn Prize by the Museum Ludwig in Cologne, which will acquire his work and host a solo exhibition. In 2010, the Lee Ufan Museum, designed by architect Tadao Ando, opened on the Japanese art island of Naoshima.