The Biennale's Best

The Daily Beast asked gallerists, curators and collectors to select the most interesting art at the Venice Biennale.

What works did international art dealers, curators and collectors consider the most impressive at the 53rd Venice Biennale? It was surprising how consistently the same names came up. The U.S. pavilion ranked high, even before it was voted best pavilion of this year. And Elmgreen & Dragset’s “The Collectors” was another favorite. And everyone was impressed with Francois Pinault’s Punta della Dogana.

Melissa Chiu, director, Asia Society, New York

“Bruce Nauman is fantastic. The show of contemporary art from Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan, East-West Divan, which is pretty fabulous, is a good introduction to some of the leading artists of the region; and at the New Zealand Pavilion, Frances Upritchard has done a really great site-specific, decorative art, sculptural piece.”

Franca Sozzani, editor, Vogue Italia, Milan

“I liked the Danish and Nordic Pavilions. It was a fantastic idea. I also liked Liam Gillick in the German Pavilion and Fiona Tan in the Dutch Pavilion. There’s good energy and I enjoy being here in this moment. It’s very inspiring because it’s a different kind of attitude, plus we did a big issue of L’Uomo Vogue with artists in their studio.”

Diana Picasso, archivist and granddaughter of Pablo Picasso, New York

“The Punta della Dogana is an incredible place with a great collection. I particularly liked the Maurizio Cattelan installation, with the draped bodies that are sculpted in white marble, and the Cy Twombly paintings.

I love Twombly’s work. I loved Bruce Nauman at the American Pavilion, the installation of the sculptures of the hands—all those bronzes—it was very impressive. I haven’t seen everything yet. In Venice, there’s no past, no present.”

Alessandro Benetton, deputy chairman, Benetton Group, Treviso, Italy

“I was impressed by the Punta della Dogana, not only for the quality of the art but for the architectural intervention, which was extremely well considered. It was done with respect for the past and with a vision for the future.”

Tim Marlow, Head of Exhibitions, White Cube, London:

•“Bruce Nauman, the US pavilion, was my favorite.

•Steve McQueen, British Pavilion

•East-West Divan, art from Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan”

Sam Keller, director of the Beyeler Foundation, Basel, former director of Art Basel:

•“Bruce Nauman, Bruce Nauman, Bruce Nauman….he is the master. It’s worth coming just for him.”

•Elmgreen & Dragset; “They don’t only do good work, they understand that in the context of the Biennale, you have to present it in a different way.”

•Steve McQueen: “These painterly images were like a kind of time travel, he took the same place we are all in, the Biennale, and shows us how parallel worlds can be.”

•Pistoletto at the Arsenale; “a great entry”

•Huang Yong Ping, Artiglierie, Arsenale

•Andao Ando and the Dogana; “the building is wonderful, Ando treated it very respectfully, and some of the history it has absorbed has dissolved nicely. I am not so interested in the concept - a lot of the art is cold, but there is a bold contrast between new and old.”

Sir Norman Rosenthal, freelance curator, former Head of Exhibitions at the Royal Academy, London:

•Bruce Nauman

•Rauschenberg exhibition ‘Gluts’ at the Guggenheim Foundation

•German Pavilion by Liam Gillick, an interesting reflection on the Bauhaus; very precise, simple, elegant

•Steve McQueen: “with all due respect, it was a bit self-indulgent. It is always interesting, I just happened not to like it.”

•Elmgreen & Dragset ‘The Collectors’: “It was ‘art world’, but ‘good art world’, sexy conceptualism, thoughtful and brilliant.”

•Fiona Tan, Netherlands Pavilion – very beautiful

•Lucas Samaras, Greek Pavilion

•Pascale Martin Tayou, the African village installation at the Arsenale; “I had never heard of him, and one is always on the look-out for something.”

•Mona Hatoum exhibition ‘Interior Landscape’: “25 of her very beautiful works which have hardly been shown before.”