Joana Vasconcelos Unveils Valentino Couture Collaboration at Lisbon's MAAT

Key facts

• Joana Vasconcelos, 54, collaborates with Valentino Garavani on "Venus – Valentino Garavani through the eyes of Joana Vasconcelos" at MAAT in Lisbon.
• The exhibition is part of MAAT's tenth anniversary celebrations and runs until February 22, 2026.
• It premiered at the Fondazione Valentino in Rome in January 2026, days before Garavani died on January 19, 2026.
• The show features 30 Valentino haute couture gowns: 12 in the first gallery and 18 elsewhere.
• Vasconcelos created "Venus Valkyrie," a monumental octopus sculpture with ruffled, crocheted, and rosetted tentacles responding to Valentino's couture.
• Notable gowns include one worn by Gwyneth Paltrow to the 2002 Venice Film Festival and one worn by Anne Hathaway to the 2013 Met Gala.
• A Harlequin-inspired Valentino dress requiring over 8,200 feet of fabric inspired the "Venus Valkyrie."
• Vasconcelos's 2008 heart-shaped sculpture made from 4,000 pieces of translucent red cutlery is displayed with a Valentino red taffeta gown modeled by Claudia Schiffer in the Autumn/Winter 1992/3 haute couture show.