A new exhibition space being created at the entrance to Venice's Grand Canal could help establish the lagoon city as a European mecca for modern and contemporary art.
Thanks to the Biennale art exhibition and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice has for years been seen as an obligatory destination for contemporary art lovers.
Then last year François Pinault, the French billionaire, added to its allure when he acquired the Palazzo Grassi on the Grand Canal to display part of his extensive art collection.
Pinault has now won backing from Venice council to turn a disused 17th-century customs house on the Punta della Dogana into a new art gallery where he can exhibit more of his collection.
The 2,500-square-metre site is expected to house works by artists such as Maurizio Cattelan, Jeff Koons, Keith Haring, Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst and Mario Merz. A tentative inauguration date of 2009 has been set.
Jean Jacques Aillagon, the former French culture minister who now runs the Palazzo Grassi for Pinault, said this week that up to 25 million euros will have to be spent before then.
"We'll be able to make a precise estimate of the investment when we have signed the contract with Venice council," he said, expressing the hope that this would be "as soon as possible".
Pinault has commissioned prominent Japanese architect Tandao Ando to redesign the Punta della Dogana site, which stands right at the end of the Dorsoduro island, just over the water from St Mark's Square.
Aillagon said that winning the 30-year lease on the Punta site, beating off a challenge from the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, would help him and Palazzo Grassi create outstanding exhibitions.
"It means having a bargaining chip which will allow us to borrow art works from other collections too," he said.
Pinault, whose empire includes Christie's, Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, owns more than 2,000 works of modern art.
