The Peggy Guggenheim Museum - Its Extraordinary Collection

In the previous post, we discussed the fascinating character that was Peggy Guggenheim and mentioned how her career and collection began. Her collection went from a great support to contemporary artists of the 20th century, and a driving force to pushing forward the artistic scene of the time, and private thing of immense beauty and prestige to a leading museum in Venice. In her own lifetime, Guggenheim opened the collection to the public during summer months and, in her final years, donated it to the art foundation established by her uncle and backer of the Guggenheim in New York. It was then converted into a museum and is now open year-round to anyone visiting the beautiful city of Venice. Just find a vacation rental in Venice and you can explore this little artistic gem and all that is held within.

The building which houses the museum is the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal in Venice. It is thought to have been begun in the 1750s by architect Lorenzo Boschetti, whose only other known building in Venice is the church of San Barnaba, and was never fully completed but is uncertain as to why this was. The Venier family who originally lived there were one of the oldest noble families in Venice and even claimed to be descended from the gens Aurelia of ancient Rome, a family from which the Emperor Valerian and Gallienus came. Three members were doges of Venice over the centuries, including Francesco Venier, who was the subject of a superb portrait by Titian.

From 1910 to around 1924 the house was in the possession of Marchesa Luisa Casati, hostess to the Ballets Russes and, in 1949, it was purchased by Peggy Guggenheim from the heirs of Viscountess Castlerosse. Though Guggenheim opened her collection to the public from 1951, it did not become a fully-functioning museum until 1980 when it opened under the management of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. In 1993, work was begun so that the original palace and museum could be extended and was not completed until 2006. By 2006, the collection had already doubled in size, meaning that it had become a necessity. The museum's collection is principally based on Guggenheim's personal art collection and is made up of European and American 20th century art. It attracts 400,000 visitors per year making it the most-visited site in Venice after the Doge's Palace. Among some of the artists represented in the collection are, from Italy, De Chirico and Severini; from France, Braque, Duchamp and Léger; from Spain, Dalí, Miró and Picasso; and Max Ernst, Kandinsky, Magritte and Mondrian; as well as US artists, Calder and Pollock.

There is a reason that this is the most-visited gallery in Venice and it is because the collection and setting are truly exceptional.