Riva degli schiavoni by Matteo Massagrande
With Riva degli Schiavoni, Matteo Massagrande captures one of the most iconic views of the Venetian lagoon. A stone balustrade overlooks the quiet water, while in the distance the city’s architecture and boats emerge along the horizon. The clear light shapes the surfaces worn by salt and time, conveying the suspended atmosphere of the lagoon. The work is on view at PUNTO SULL’ARTE Gallery in Varese as part of the solo exhibition SOGLIE – Stanze, Paesaggi, Città.
The artist: Matteo Massagrande
Matteo Massagrande, born in Padua in 1959, is one of the leading figures of contemporary Italian figurative painting. Active since a very young age, he has developed a pictorial research grounded in careful observation of space and in the layered construction of the image. Alongside painting, he has cultivated an intense graphic practice since the 1970s. Over the course of his career he has held more than one hundred solo exhibitions in Italy and abroad, and his works are part of important museum and private collections. He currently lives and works between Padua and Hajós, Hungary.
Description “Riva degli schiavoni”
In Riva degli Schiavoni, Massagrande structures the composition through a perspective that leads the viewer’s gaze along the edge of the waterfront toward the open space of the lagoon. The stone surfaces, marked by time, interact with the calm water and the wooden poles rising from the lagoon. Light shapes the volumes and creates a delicate balance between architecture, water, and distance.
Conclusion
The work resonates with the theme of the exhibition SOGLIE, dedicated to spaces of passage and liminal places. In Riva degli Schiavoni, the boundary between land and water becomes a visual threshold that invites the viewer to contemplate the depth of the lagoon landscape. The artwork is on view at PUNTO SULL’ARTE Gallery in Varese until May 9, 2026.