Some never-before-seen work by the late Chinese Canadian artist Matthew Wong will be presented in “Interiors,” a solo exhibition in Venice coinciding with the 2026 Venice Biennale. The show will be on view at the Palazzo Tiepolo Passi from May 9 to November 1, 2026.
Wong was a self-taught painter known for his luminous, introspective landscapes and interiors. Since his death at the age of 35 in 2019, his legacy has grown rapidly: He has been the subject of retrospectives at major museums and generated high demand from collectors. Shortly after his death, Roberta Smith of the New York Times wrote that he was “one of the most talented painters of his generation.”
“Interiors,” organized by the Matthew Wong Foundation, will feature 35 paintings and works on paper created between 2015 and 2019. It will be the first major exhibition of Wong’s work to focus specifically on his paintings of interiors, and will be accompanied by a catalogue published by the foundation. The show will be curated by John Cheim, formerly of the New York gallery Cheim & Reid, which closed in 2023. Prior to its closure, Cheim & Read featured Wong’s work in several exhibitions, both before and after his death.
“The exploration of the interior has long been a central concern in modern and post-war art—from the vibrantly colored and patterned domestic scenes of Matisse and Vuillard to the emotionally charged spaces of Munch, Van Gogh, and Duchamp,” Cheim said in a statement. “Matthew synthesized these traditions into a unique visual language, employing dense color and expressive brushwork to transform rooms into vivid, non-naturalistic settings.”
The upcoming presentation follows the opening of the Matthew Wong Foundation’s new headquarters in Edmonton, Alberta, where the artist lived at the time of his death. The site houses the artist’s full archive, preserves his studio, and offers facilities for research and exhibitions. It will serve as a permanent resource for scholars and curators studying Wong’s life and work.
“With the opening of our new Foundation headquarters, we are ensuring that the full context of Matthew’s creative life…is permanently preserved for scholars and the public,” said Monita Wong, the artist’s mother and chair of his foundation, in a statement.
