House for Venice Biennale, project, Venice, Italy, Aerial view
César Pelli
American, born Argentina. 1926–2019
1976
A watercolor and ink architectural proposal by César Pelli that imagines a house for the Venice Biennale as a long, elevated spine threading through a series of colored garden rooms, aiming to translate program and site into a poetic built form.
What strikes you is the floating axonometric: a glassy, diagonal ramp crossing jewel‑toned terraces and miniature trees, rendered in delicate washes and crisp ink so the composition reads like a precise model set against a sky‑tinted field.
The drawing sits within the late‑modern tradition of persuasive architectural watercolors, using atmosphere and measured line to explore circulation, landscape, and program—an approach that informed Pelli’s later attention to context and movement in built work.
Medium
Watercolor and ink on paper
Dimensions
40 x 40" (101.6 x 101.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the architect in honor of Philip Johnson
Accession
388.1996
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
