MAAT – the Museum of Art, Architecture and Technology in Lisbon – is hosting until 22 February the exhibition “VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos” (source in Portuguese), inspired by the world of the renowned Italian fashion designer.
The project stems from a partnership between the Valentino Garavani and Giancarlo Giammetti Foundation – Giammetti being the designer’s life and business partner – and Portuguese sculptor and artist Joana Vasconcelos, who has devised a visitor journey in which her own work enters into dialogue with the pieces created over the years by the designer.
“I wanted to show the diversity and the wonder of Valentino’s work, the way he worked with embroidery, all the fabrics he used, completely different from one another. But also how, from these materials, he created this idyllic woman, this goddess-like woman,” the Portuguese artist told Euronews, recalling how the designer “transformed, through his dresses, women’s identities”.
Drawing on the designer’s archive, to which Joana Vasconcelos had access in order to shape this exhibition, the sculptor revealed that she had sought “to choose dresses that weren’t the cliché of ‘Valentino Red'”, a colour strongly associated with the ideals of power, passion and sensuality. Even so, the show includes a particularly emblematic example of what has become one of the Italian creator’s trademarks.
At the press presentation of “VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos”, the Portuguese artist explained to Euronews that it was from this “idea of luxury” that Valkyrie Venus emerged, a textile sculpture that occupies the central place in the entire show.
“And it was from this work that the exhibition was born, in which we play on the paradox between the domestic and luxury. The woman at home, the woman in intimacy, the woman who is not seen; and the woman in public space, the woman who becomes a goddess because she wears a Valentino dress,” Joana Vasconcelos explained. The Valkyrie Venus itself incorporates the “textures” and colours of the garments chosen as the source of inspiration for its creation.
It was with this apparently contradictory relationship “between the private and the public” in mind that the sculptor has designed, within MAAT’s spaces, a route where visitors can see some of her most emblematic works, as well as new creations, in symbiosis with garments bearing the signature of the acclaimed Italian fashion designer.
Speaking about the whole process of selecting the dresses to be included in the exhibition and their interconnection with her own sculptures, Joana Vasconcelos confided to Euronews that “it was not a challenge”, but rather something “very dynamic and fun”. One example is the “Ironing Room”, as she calls it, for which she chose “dresses that cannot be ironed”, displayed flanking an artistic composition in which that household appliance is the main protagonist.
“So it was this strange way of life that led me to create this exhibition,” a true “game between dresses that are worn only on certain occasions of perfection and luxury” and life “in the domestic sphere, which does not include that kind of elements”. This second dimension appears throughout the route through the “presence of feather dusters, pots and cutlery”, among other utensils that are highly characteristic of life at home.
The show at MAAT is an adapted version of a project originally on display in the Italian city of Rome, more specifically at PM23, the cultural space founded by Valentino and Giancarlo Giammetti, where it ran until 19 July 2026.
“VENUS – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos” (source in Portuguese), which aims to be a meeting point between art and haute couture, is being held as part of the celebrations marking MAAT’s 10th anniversary, at a time when the museum itself is also hosting three other new exhibitions.