Lorna Simpson at Punta della Dogana: Memory, Image, and Erasure in “Third Person”

At the tip of Venice where the Grand Canal opens into the lagoon, Punta della Dogana is a former customs house whose raw, monumental architecture intensifies every encounter with art. Now part of the Pinault Collection, it provides a charged, atmospheric stage for exhibitions shaped by time, perception, and shifting points of view.

That setting frames Third Person, Lorna Simpson’s major solo exhibition and her most significant presentation in Europe in more than a decade, with a focus on her painting practice. Curated by Emma Lavigne in close collaboration with Simpson, the exhibition, organized in 3 movements, unfolds from politically charged, opaque compositions to arctic landscapes drawn from expedition archives, and finally to portraiture and commanding female figures, notably installed in the Tadao Ando-designed Cube. Across these sections, Simpson probes memory, erasure, and the instability of images and narratives, with collage positioned as a central method, culminating in a forty-part installation of “source notes.” For those in Venice or willing to make the journey, it is an essential encounter with one of the most intellectually and visually compelling artists working today.