Pedro Cabrita Reis
XIV Steps
A project by Pedro Cabrita Reis
with Luca Berta and Michael Short
May 4 – November 22, 2026
Magazzino del Sale 3 – Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia
Dorsoduro 264, 30123 Venice
On the occasion of the 61st International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, Portuguese Artist Pedro Cabrita Reis returns to Venice at Magazzino del Sale 3 – Accademia di Belle Arti di Venezia with a radically different gesture: XIV Steps, a cycle of fourteen paintings inspired by the Stations of the Cross.
Born in 1956 in Lisbon, where he lives and works, Cabrita Reis is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of contemporary art. Since the mid-1980s, his work has achieved international recognition and has been pivotal to the redefinition of sculpture in a post-minimal and post-conceptual context. Cabrita Reis has consistently pursued an independent path, developing a multidisciplinary practice that encompasses painting, sculpture, photography, drawing, and large-scale installations composed of industrial and found materials.
The theoretical and formal richness of Cabrita Reis’ work unfolds through an anthropological reflection that resists sociological reductionism. Meaning emerges through silence, fragmentation, and attentive inquiry rather than through explicit narrative or ideological assertion. Central to his practice is an uncompromising belief in artistic freedom.
XIV Steps marks a significant new chapter in his practice and ongoing investigation into culture, memory, and the complexities of the human condition. The 14 diptych paintings that Cabrita Reis created especially for Venice in 2026 engage with the dramatic narrative structure of the Stations of the Cross, a theme whose resonance extends far beyond its theological origins. As famously observed by Barnett Newman, the Stations articulate a universal reflection on suffering, endurance, and the human condition, dimensions that find renewed expression in this cycle of paintings.
Website
pedrocabritareis.com
Instagram
@cabritastudio
Credits Juan Rodriguez, courtesy of the artist.