Peggy Guggenheim

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Lore & Background

Peggy Guggenheim was born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, a niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim. She was a former wife of artist Max Ernst. She collected the artworks mostly between 1938 and 1946, buying works in Europe "in dizzying succession" as World War II began, and later in America, where she discovered the talent of Jackson Pollock, among others. During her 30-year residence in Venice, her collection was seen at her home in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni and at special exhibitions in Amsterdam (1950), Zürich (1951), London (1964), Stockholm (1966), Copenhagen (1966), New York (1969) and Paris (1974). She purchased the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1949. In 1951, the palazzo, its garden (now called the Nasher Sculpture Garden), and her art collection were opened to the public from April to October for viewing. Her collection at the palazzo remained open during the summers until her death in Camposampiero, northern Italy, in 1979. She had donated the palazzo and the 300-piece collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1976. The foundation took control of the palazzo and the collection in 1979 and re-opened the collection there in April 1980 as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.

Reader's Guide

Peggy Guggenheim's significance lies in her role as a collector who shaped the reception of modern art. Her collection includes works of prominent Italian futurists and American modernists working in such genres as Cubism, Surrealism and abstract expressionism. It also includes sculptural works. Among the artists represented in the collection are: from Italy, Giorgio de Chirico (The Red Tower, The Nostalgia of the Poet) and Gino Severini (Sea Dancer); from France, Georges Braque (The Clarinet), Jean Metzinger (Au Vélodrome), Albert Gleizes (Woman with Animals), Marcel Duchamp (Sad Young Man on a Train), Fernand Léger (Study of a Nude and Men in the City), Francis Picabia (Very Rare Picture on Earth); from Spain, Salvador Dalí (Birth of Liquid Desires), Joan Miró (Seated Woman II) and Pablo Picasso (The Poet, On the Beach); from other European countries, Constantin Brâncuși (including a sculpture from the Bird in Space series), Max Ernst (The Kiss, Attirement of the Bride), Alberto Giacometti (Woman with Her Throat Cut, Woman Walking), Arshile Gorky (Untitled), Wassily Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2, White Cross), Paul Klee (Magic Garden), René Magritte (Empire of Light) and Piet Mondrian (Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red 1938, Composition with Red 1939); and from the US, Alexander Calder (Arc of Petals) and Jackson Pollock (The Moon Woman, Alchemy). In one room, the museum also exhibits a few paintings by Peggy's daughter Pegeen Vail Guggenheim. The museum "houses an impressive selection of modern art. Its picturesque setting and well-respected collection attract some 400,000 visitors per year", making it "the most-visited site in Venice after the Doge's Palace".

Did You Know?

• Peggy Guggenheim was a former wife of artist Max Ernst.
• She discovered the talent of Jackson Pollock, among others, while collecting in America.
• She donated the palazzo and the 300-piece collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1976.
• The collection attracts some 400,000 visitors per year, making it the most-visited site in Venice after the Doge's Palace.
• In 2017, her granddaughter Karole Vail was appointed director of the collection, succeeding Philip Rylands, who led the museum for 37 years.