Fashion designer Dries Van Noten is opening the Fondazione Dries Van Noten in Venice's 15th-century Palazzo Pisani Moretta, which he and his partner Patrick Vangheluwe acquired last year. The foundation's inaugural exhibition, "The Only True Protest Is Beauty," curated with Geert Bruloot, will open on April 25, featuring over 200 works across 20 rooms. Van Noten, who handed over his brand's creative direction to Julian Klausner in 2024, remains involved in the beauty arm and store design while launching this new cultural venture.
The foundation matters because it marks a significant shift for Van Noten from fashion to art patronage, using craft as a unifying theme to connect diverse makers from artist Steven Shearer to ceramicist Kaori Kurihara. By transforming a historic Venetian palace into a museum-level exhibition space, Van Noten is creating a new model for designer-led foundations that bridges fashion, craft, and contemporary art, while also contributing to Venice's cultural landscape beyond the Biennale.