REAL VENICE was on view at Somerset House, London from 11 October - 11 December 2011


About the photographs

For centuries, Venice has inspired intellectuals, writers, and artists with its ravishing beauty, riches and strangeness. Over the last 100 years, however, the avant-garde visual arts have with only a few notable exceptions, avoided using Venice as their subject matter, resisting this deeply romantic city, so famously and frequently reproduced and parodied.
The resulting images show Venice in all its beauty, but also in all its paradoxes and contrasts.  As well as addressing the everyday life of the city’s inhabitants, its classic monuments and modern architecture, the photographs capture the ravages wrought by mass tourism and the rise of the lagoon water level.

General Visitor Information

Venue: The Embankment Galleries, South Wing, Somerset House, Strand,
London WC2R 1LA
Exhibition dates: 11 October - 11 December 2011
Exhibition opening hours: 10am - 6pm daily, late night Thursday until 20:00
Admission: £5, £4 Concessions

Getting to the Exhibition

The nearest mainline rail stations are:
Charing Cross, Waterloo and Blackfriars.

The nearest underground stations are:
Temple, Covent Garden, Charing Cross and Embankment.

Buses servicing the Strand include numbers 6, 9, 11, 13, 15, 23, 77a, 91 and 176, while the River Bus Service can be taken to Embankment and Savoy piers.

Pedestrian access to Somerset House is available from Victoria Embankment, Waterloo Bridge (via a new footbridge link) or from the Strand.

Please visit the Somerset House website  for details of how to reach the venue.  

Venice in Peril would like to thank the artists for their generosity and also wish to thank their partners, sponsors and donors.


Anonymous donor
Mrs Andrew Graham
Sir Ronald Grierson
The Headley Trust
The Kilfinan Trust
Sir Mark and Lady Moody Stuart
Mrs Marina Morrisson Atwater
Lord and Lady Phillimore
The Rothschild Foundation