Celia Paul: Objects of Desire

Victoria Miro is delighted to present an exhibition in Venice of new paintings by Celia Paul, continuing the artist’s fascination with the complex relationship between the observer and the observed.

The exhibition coincides with the publication of a new book by the artist, Objects of Desire: An Artist in Venice, a painter’s memoir of obsession, loss and creation during a residency in Venice.

The pivotal subject of both the book and the exhibition is Giorgione’s La Tempesta (1503–1504), on view in the Gallerie dell’Accademia, which interested Paul because of the dynamic between the figure of a man and a breastfeeding woman. In 2023, Paul painted an interpretation of La Tempesta, which she titled That Obscure Object of Desire, the same title as Luis Buñuel’s 1977 surrealist film, noting how the film and the painting share dreamlike qualities and are rich with symbolism. Returning to Giorgione’s painting, Paul has created a new painting, Objects of Desire (after Giorgione), 2026, further exploring the interaction of figures within, the artist explains, ‘the context of the natural forces which surround and control them.’

Guiding forces within and beyond the body are foregrounded in further works, such as Moon Influencing Waves, 2026, a waterscape of poignant luminosity. The sea is a recurring motif in Paul’s art; constant yet constantly changing, its restless surface might be considered as something that evades possession or refuses to be fixed as a subject. Commenting about this work, Paul notes, ‘It has always seemed very mysterious to me that the moon is the invisible magnet drawing up waves out of still water. Just as with the moon and water, the unseen charisma passing between people who are attracted to each other, seems mysterious.’

Illuminated elsewhere are elusive pressures of feeling and alignments of intellect or passion, and how they shape our relationships with others or even versions of ourselves across time. Gwen John (1876–1939) has long been a tutelary spirit for Paul, and she has drawn fruitful comparisons between their lives: in their shared resolve to protect the sources of their creativity; their fierce commitment to painting; and the ways in which their associations with older male artists affected the public’s reception of their work. Naked Painter, 2026, refers to an ink-and-wash self-portrait by John in which the artist is depicted sitting on her bed awaiting a visit from her lover, the sculptor Auguste Rodin. About her own work Paul comments, ‘I wanted to show that a young female artist can be both the object of another’s gaze and her own subject. I intended the painting to be a reference to my adolescent self, when I was first becoming aware of my artistic vocation and its challenges.’

Tramonto: Watching Painter, 2026, seems especially attuned to cross-currents of time and feeling, imbuing a retrospective air with the ardour of a sunset. Based on a depiction of Paul by Lucian Freud in his painting Painter and Model, 1986–1987, which in turn carries echoes the composition of Giorgione’s La Tempesta, in this painting Paul depicts herself alone amid the embers of a setting sun. She comments, ‘Both Freud’s and Giorgione’s paintings are about looking and being looked at. In my sunset self-portrait, I seem to be looking back in time to my young self.’ In Seated Painter, 2026, by contrast, Paul paints herself sitting on a bed which shares the hue of a Venetian canal while the colours of sunset appear reflected in her clothing. Directly facing the viewer, Paul  comments ‘I seem to have made peace with myself and with my surroundings.’

Objects of Desire: An Artist in Venice by Celia Paul

Alone in Venice for an artist’s residency, Celia Paul records her daily painting practice. Her days are both charged with and interrupted by the turmoil she feels over her husband’s death and by a later obsession with a younger man.

Inspired by the art, literature and light-filled atmosphere of the city, Paul’s meditations on love, creation, ageing and belonging are interwoven with vivid explorations of artists and writers connected to Venice. An act of profound and deeply personal observation, Objects of Desire reveals more with each reading: a window on to a life devoted to art and a self-portrait of an artist who longs to look unflinchingly at herself – and invites us to do the same.

Objects of Desire: An Artist in Venice by Celia Paul is published in the UK by Jonathan Cape and in the US by New York Review Books on 12 November 2026. Celia Paul: Objects of Desire is on view at Victoria Miro, Venice, 7 November–12 December 2026.

Image: Celia Paul, Objects of Desire (after Giorgione), 2026
Oil on canvas
142.2 x 106.7 cm
56 x 42 in
© Celia Paul
Courtesy the artist and Victoria Miro