'Zaha Hadid' Opens at Palazzo Franchetti

The abridged retrospective exhibition housed in the 16th-century Palazzo Franchetti presents early, completed, recent and in-progress works by Zaha Hadid Architects, the studio she founded in 1979, as well as projects and prototypes by CODE, the firm's Computation and Design Group. Many drawings, paintings, renderings, models and videos are packed into eleven rooms in the palazzo. The circuit through the rooms highlights the changes in Hadid's output over the four decades, from angular, Constructivist forms to fluid surfaces influenced highly by her longtime partner Patrik Schumacher.

A highlight of the exhibition are Hadid's early paintings, such as The Peak (Hong Kong, 1982, unbuilt) and the Vitra Fire Station (Weil am Rhein, Germany, 1993, her first built work). Hadid's fame, even after passing, rests on these seminal paintings that have been reproduced repeatedly in print and online publications. But seeing them in print or on a screen does not ready one for the huge size of Hadid's paintings, which can be studied in fine detail behind glass.

Zaha Hadid opened today at Palazzo Franchetti and runs until 27 November 2016.