IL GESTO: A contemporary reinterpretation of The Wedding at Cana

For the 61st International Art Exhibition of the Venice Biennale 2026, JR has chosen Palazzo Ca' da Mosto (The Venice Venice Hotel) to present the ninth edition of the Chronicles series. 

Il Gesto is inspired by Paolo Veronese’s The Wedding at Cana (1563), a painting that carries a long history between the cities of Venice and Paris. Created for the monastery of San Giorgio Maggiore on the Grand Canal, the painting currently lives in the Musée du Louvre, where JR made the pyramid disappear in 2016 and reappear in 2019. 

The full mural features 174 members of the Refettorio Paris community — guests, volunteers, and chefs — woven into a tapestry by Fondazione Bonotto. Following the intention of each Chronicles, every participant was photographed and recorded to form a collective composition in which every face holds a story, and every story carries its own dignity.

The tapestry will remain on view at Palazzo Ca' da Mosto until November 24, 2026. A portion of Il Gesto can also be seen on the palazzo's façade as a large-scale public installation until May 9, 2026.

Admission is free: reserve your visit here.

Explore the mural and listen to the participants' stories.

Refettorio Paris, founded by a group of very involved friends including JR, is a fine-dining restaurant where surplus food is transformed each evening into three-course meals served to people in need. 

“By bringing together people of different origins in a single composition, I ask: what idea of community are we building today? Who is truly visible? Who is invited to sit at the table? What does it mean, at the deepest level, to share a meal? In this work, the banquet becomes a necessary space of encounter, where beauty ceases to be a privilege and becomes a shared human experience.” — JR