Venice Biennale opens to public

The African pavilion has work by 30 artists

The 52nd Venice Biennale, the world's oldest and highest-profile international art exhibition, is to open to the public in northern Italy.

Seventy-two countries are competing for the top prize - the Golden Lion.

For the first time there are separate pavilions devoted to African and Roma, or Gypsy, art.

The first Biennale was held in 1887. Since then the biennial fair has featured the work of artists such as Pablo Picasso and Gustav Klimt.

It also helped Henry Moore - who won the prize for sculpture in 1948 - to launch his career.

'Joy and pride'

Paradise Lost, the first Roma pavilion in Venice, is set in the medieval Pisani Palace - a little apart from the main Biennale, the BBC's Nick Thorpe in Venice says.

But for many, it is one of the most interesting developments at the exhibition, our correspondent says.

He says that the suffering of the Roma, poverty and persecution are present in many of the works, but so is the joy and pride of a people claiming their place in the world.

The work of 16 artists from eight countries is displayed in the pavilion.

This year's fair is marked by another first - a separate African pavilion, represented by 30 artists.

But all its art comes from one private collection located in Angola's capital, Luanda, the BBC's arts correspondent Rebecca Jones says.

She says that this has led some critics to wonder whether the pavilion really fills the criterion that the work represents the entire African continent.