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In Venice, the Fortuny Museum has been reopened after two years of renovation of the Palazzo Pesaro degli Orfei, a meeting place for the European intellectual elite of the early 20th century.
This marvelous Gothic palace originally belonged to the Venetian family of the same name, Mariano Fortuny Y Madrazo who lived and worked there from 1898 until his death in 1949 in the company of his wife and inspirational muse, Hen- riette Nigrin.
The artist’s house - studio was damaged by the Acqua Granda in November 2019 when the water in the lagoon reached an exceptional height. The Palazzo became a permanent museum thanks to the installation and scenography of Maestro Pier Luigi Pizzi, director and architect of international renown.This huge place bears witness to the original and brilliant journey of Mariano Fortuny Y Madrazo.
Painter and photographer long before taking an interest in sewing, this polyhedral inventor and artist was born in Spain, in Malaga on May 11, 1871.
Son of collectors and artist parents, he lost his father at the age of 3, the orientalist painter, Maria Fortuny. His mother, Cecilia de Madrazo y Garreta, then left with her children for Paris where little Mariano began his artistic education surrounded by African and pre-Columbian art objects.
At 12, the star of Italian painting, Giovanni Boldini, took him to see ballets at the new Eden Theater. Mariano remains struck by the world of stage technologies and he will be a great innovator in this field.
At the age of 18, due to an allergy to horse hair which prevented his outings in a carriage, he moved with his family to Venice. Thus, in this city of water he could move without worries by boat.