Abbazia di San Giorgio Maggiore – Benedicti Claustra Onlus and Draiflessen Collection are pleased to present a new commission for the altar of the Palladian Basilica from 9 May to 23 November 2025: two new paintings by Luc Tuymans. Commissioned by the Benedictine Community – led by Abbot Stefano Visintin osb – and Draiflessen Collection, these works will temporarily replace the large presbytery canvases by Jacopo Tintoretto (Venice, 1518-1594): The Last Supper and The People of Israel in the Desert, which are currently undergoing conservation – their first restoration in over fifty years. Luc Tuymans returns to Venice – following the memorable retrospective at Palazzo Grassi in 2019 – in dialogue with the Benedictine monks of San Giorgio Maggiore, who have been committed for over a decade to restoring a meaningful relationship between the Church and Contemporary Art.

The initiative is led by a curatorial team including Carmelo A. Grasso, Corinna Otto, and Ory Dessau

Tuymans’ presentation at San Giorgio Maggiore, writes Dessau, emphasizes the contextual competence of contemporary art, and of his art in particular, to harness and contribute to the circumstances in which it is temporarily displayed. The impact of Tuymans’ current presentation while the two Tintorettos are being restored derives from the given situation but also from its temporariness, its nomadism, and its ad hoc status. It takes the symbolic and physical conditions of the basilica into consideration without being determined by them.

More information (abbaziasangiorgio.it)