The Fondazione dei Musei Civici di Venezia and Tessuti Artistici Fortuny SRL join forces to promote the world of Mariano Fortuny

The important long-term initiative stems from a shared wish to promote forms and expressions of culture and art in the museum world, in particular those that find a natural home in the Museo Fortuny.

After a two-year closure, the museum reopened its doors to the public in March 2022, and visitors can now once again admire the home and studio of the genius Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo, who, together with his wife Henriette Nigrin, set up a factory in the lagoon and took out patents in the fields of lighting, photography, textiles and paint.

The collaboration between MUVE and the company over the next five years will feature exhibitions, conferences, readings and talks. The aim is to take part in and actively support the various historic, cultural and artistic initiatives to promote and divulge the activities carried out by the Foundation in relation to the Fortuny world. 

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Tessuti Artistici Fortuny SRL – the owner of the well-known national brand. Founded by the Spanish artist, set designer and inventor Mariano Fortuny y Madrazo in Venice in 1906, the Fortuny brand distils, in its world-famous historic and fine fabrics, a precise identity that articulates art and history in the contemporary together with the ambition to produce the total art work. The Fortuny universe includes every aspect of life, from fabrics to objects and interiors.

The high-end Fortuny fabrics are still produced in this factory on the lagoon today, with the surname of its founder displayed prominently on the façade. The 100% cotton fabrics are produced with unique and secret processes that employ the same original techniques and machines invented by Mariano Fortuny. The colours are obtained using old formulas created by Henriette Negrin with natural materials such as plant and insect extracts, as seen in the dozens of shades of the extraordinary Fortuny green. The fabric patterns are inspired by the reflection of the buildings in the waters of the lagoon, by the iridescent light that shines from the water onto the palaces, by artworks and by collections of objects.