The Third Le Venezie International Watercolor Festival: Turner's Spirit Reborn and a Deeper Dialogue Between East and West
From October 11 to 26, 2025, the Third Le Venezie International Watercolor Festival was held in grand style at the Palazzo dei Trecento in Treviso, Italy. Themed "Commemorating the 250th Anniversary of the Birth of William Turner," the festival was jointly organized by the Independent Turner Society (UK), the Italian Cultural and Art Exchange Association, and Sheng Xinyu Art (China). It brought together 211 exceptional watercolor works from China and nearly 20 countries worldwide, with over 200 artists participating — making it the largest and most internationally representative edition to date, and a powerful testament to the festival's steadily growing global influence over three years.
Historical Context: A Tribute to the "Father of Modern Art"
The year 2025 marked the 250th anniversary of the birth of the great British Romantic artist J.M.W. Turner (1775–1851). Hailed by critic John Ruskin as the "Father of Modern Art," Turner's revolutionary exploration of light and color profoundly shaped the course of Impressionism and modern painting as a whole. Turner's bond with Venice was one of the defining relationships of his creative life — between 1819 and 1840, he made three visits to the city, producing such enduring masterpieces as Dogana and San Giorgio Maggiore and The Bridge of Sighs, the Ducal Palace and the Custom House, capturing Venice's ethereal play of light and atmosphere on canvas. As Ruskin observed: "In Venice, Turner found free space and the ultimate expression of color."
Against this historic backdrop, the organizing committee designated the 250th anniversary of Turner's birth as the theme for this edition — at once a heartfelt homage to a pioneering artist and a deeper excavation of watercolor's contemporary relevance. As one of the largest Turner commemorative events held outside the United Kingdom, the festival's significance extended well beyond a conventional art competition. The trilateral co-organization model — uniting Chinese, British, and Italian art institutions — established a genuine platform for cross-civilizational dialogue, allowing Turner's "aesthetics of the sublime" to find new vitality within a contemporary, globalized context.
The Opening: A Gathering at the Palazzo dei Trecento
The opening ceremony was held at the Palazzo dei Trecento, the seat of the Treviso City Council, and presided over by Giandomenico Padovan, Vice President of the Italian Cultural and Art Exchange Association. Treviso City Councillor Giampiero Aloisi delivered an address filled with evident pride: "Treviso, a city renowned for its elegance and artistic heritage, is enormously honored to host an international watercolor celebration of such scale and distinction. On behalf of the Mayor, I extend my deepest gratitude to the artists and art lovers who have traveled from across the world — your presence breathes fresh life into Treviso's cultural landscape and fills this ancient city with new vitality."
Professor Antonietta Pastore Stocchi, President of the University of Treviso, offered a reflection on the event's broader humanistic significance: "Art is the universal language of humanity, connecting us with a force that transcends all borders. We gather here through watercolor, communicate through brushwork, and learn through the heart — and that is the most precious gift that art can offer us."
Sandra Miranda Pattin, representing the jury, shared her experience of the judging process. She noted that both the volume and the artistic standard of submissions had risen significantly in this edition — over 200 outstanding works, each offering a distinctive perspective on water and color. She particularly highlighted the Chinese works, which stood out for their grandeur and Eastern sensibility, demonstrating the boundless possibilities of watercolor art.
Zhao Kangwei, President of the Shanghai Chinese and Foreign Culture and Art Exchange Association, delivered his remarks via video, expressing enthusiasm for Sino-Italian cultural collaboration: "Since its inaugural edition, the Le Venezie International Watercolor Festival has served as a bridge connecting the art of East and West. In this edition, Chinese artists contributed over 100 works — works that not only inherit Turner's philosophy of light, but also infuse it with the Eastern spirit of negative space and expressive spontaneity."
An Authoritative Jury: Fourteen Judges from Seven Countries
The jury for this edition comprised 14 judges from seven countries — the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Italy, Spain, Belgium, and China — including presidents of watercolor associations, art critics, competition founders, artistic directors, and distinguished watercolor painters, forming an internationally first-rate academic panel. Particularly noteworthy was the participation of Karen Taylor, a representative of the Independent Turner Society (UK), one of the co-organizing institutions, who took part in the full judging process — further underscoring the festival's deep connection to the Turner commemorative program. The festival also received generous sponsorship from the renowned Italian art supply brands Maimeri and Tintoretto, each of which established a dedicated named award, alongside Chinese paper brand Baohong, which also participated as a sponsor.
Award Results: Exceptional Quality Across the Board
Following two rigorous rounds of evaluation by more than ten international judges from Italy, Spain, Ireland, China, and beyond, the awards for this edition were finalized. Of particular note: given the extraordinarily high and diverse quality of submissions, each juror awarded their highest score to a different artist. After extended and careful deliberation, the jury made the decision not to assign a single overall first prize — a decision that, in itself, stands as the highest possible tribute to the remarkable diversity and excellence of the works presented. Category awards and excellence awards were presented across six disciplines — Portraiture and Figures, Landscape, Still Life, Florals, Exploration (Abstract), and Others. All works exhibited in the on-site exhibition received a specially commissioned medal commemorating the 250th anniversary of Turner's birth. Chinese artist Wang Dan was awarded Second Prize in the Still Life category and delivered a speech on behalf of all participating artists at the opening ceremony.
Academic Dialogue: Eastern Ink Meets Western Light
Following the opening ceremony, Curator Raffaello Padovan and Huang Huazhao — a celebrated Chinese watercolor artist and Vice Director of the Watercolor Art Committee of the China Artists Association — co-hosted an academic symposium. Huang's presentation, titled "'Water': A Dialogue Across Time and Space," offered a profound Eastern perspective on the development of watercolor art within Chinese cultural soil: "Watercolor originated in the West, yet found a 'distant relative' in the resonance of Chinese ink painting. We draw inspiration from Turner's mastery of light, and infuse it with the Eastern spirit of 'empty space' and expressive brushwork." In his view, the history of Chinese watercolor is a narrative of active learning from the West, followed by reflection, integration, and innovation — ultimately returning, with cultural confidence, to its own roots, and forging a distinctly Eastern modern identity. This scholarly exchange was a living embodiment of the festival's core commitment to deep East-West artistic dialogue.
Three Editions, a Maturing International Platform
Since the inaugural edition in 2023, the Le Venezie International Watercolor Festival has completed three years of continuous growth. Across three editions, the festival has attracted nearly 3,000 participants from over 40 countries, with a cumulative total of close to 3,000 works submitted. Its international influence has expanded with each passing year. From the post-pandemic artistic revival of the first edition, to the second edition's integration into Venice's official commemorative program for the 700th anniversary of Marco Polo's death, to this third edition's emergence as one of the largest Turner anniversary events held outside the United Kingdom — each successive edition has anchored itself within an ever broader historical and cultural frame of reference, steadily establishing the festival's indispensable place in the international watercolor calendar.
Curator Zhang Hongbin reflected on the occasion: "Turner taught us to use water as ink and light as a brush. Today's artists are continuing that aesthetic revolution — begun 250 years ago — in the language of a globalized world." It is precisely this founding vision — connecting the spirit of history with contemporary practice — that has made the Le Venezie International Watercolor Festival a genuinely global artistic community, and laid an ever richer humanistic foundation for the editions yet to come.
The exhibition of winner:
https://www.shengxinyuart.com/index/exhibition/detail?id=NDE5
