Female nudity and art that stinks: key takeaways from Venice Biennale 2026

Despite a call for calm, a combustible mix of politics and protest punctuated the preview week across the pavilions Every two years the art world assembles in Venice for a sprawling celebration of visual arts at which countries “compete” against one another for the prize of best national pavilion. It is a barometer of taste, a shop window for artists and the industry’s biggest get-together – once described by the art historian Lawrence Alloway as an “orgy of contact and communication”. This year