Peggy Guggenheim Collection
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is an art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy. Originally the private collection of the American heiress Peggy Guggenheim, after her death in 1979 its ownership passed to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, an 18th century palace.
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[edit] Collection
The collection is principally based on the personal art collection of Peggy Guggenheim, a former wife of the artist Max Ernst and a niece of the mining magnate, Solomon R. Guggenheim. The museum houses one of the most important collections of early 20th century European and American art in Italy.[citation needed] Works on display include those of prominent Italian futurists and American modernists. Pieces in the collection embrace Cubism, Surrealism and Abstract expressionism.[1] During Peggy Guggenheim's 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), Zurich (1951), London (1964), Stockholm (1966), Copenhagen (1966), New York (1969) and Paris (1974).[2]
Among the artists represented in the collection are, from Italy, De Chirico (The Red Tower, The Nostalgia of the Poet) and Severini (Sea Dancer); from France, Braque (The Clarinet), Duchamp (Sad Young Man on a Train), Léger (Study of a Nude) and Picabia (Very Rare Picture on Earth); from Spain, Dalí (Birth of Liquid Desires), Miró (Seated Woman II) and Picasso (The Poet, On the Beach); from other European countries, Brâncuşi (including a sculpture from the Bird in Space series), Max Ernst (The Kiss, Attirement of the Bride), Giacometti (Woman with Her Throat Cut, Woman Walking), Gorky (Untitled), Kandinsky (Landscape with Red Spots, No. 2, White Cross), Klee (Magic Garden), Magritte (Empire of Light) and Mondrian (Composition No. 1 with Grey and Red 1938, Composition with Red 1939); and from the US, Calder (Arc of Petals) and Pollock (The Moon Woman, Alchemy).[1] In one room, the museum also exhibits a few paintings by Peggy's daughter Pegeen Vail Guggenheim.[3]
In addition to the permanent collection, the museum houses 26 works on long-term loan from the Gianni Mattioli Collection, including images of Italian futurism by artists including Boccioni (Materia, Dynamism of a Cyclist), Carrà (Interventionist Demonstration), Russolo (The Solidity of Fog) and Severini (Blue Dancer), as well as works by Balla, Depero, Rosai, Sironi and Soffici.[1]
Philip Rylands was appointed director of the collection in 2000.[4]
[edit] Building
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is housed in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. Although sometimes mistaken for a modern building,[5] it is an 18th century palace designed by the Venetian architect Lorenzo Boschetti.[6] The building was unfinished, and has an unusually low elevation on the Grand Canal. The museum's website describes it thus:
Purchased by Peggy Guggenheim in July 1949, the palazzo was her home for thirty years.[6] 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.[8] Her home remained open during the summers until her death in Camposampiero, northern Italy, in 1979, when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, led by Peter Lawson-Johnston, took on the management of the palazzo and the collection.[9] The collection was reopened at the palazzo in April 1980 as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. Since 1985, it has been open year-round.[7] In 2003 the museum acquired a plot of about 300 square metres, adjacent to the palazzo, and created a new entrance and booking office to cope with the increasing number of visitors, which reached 350,000 in 2007.[10]
As of 2012, the museum was the most visited art gallery in Venice and the 11th most visited in Italy.[4]
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b c "Collections", Peggy Guggenheim Collection, accessed 10 March 2012
- ^ Decker, p. 133
- ^ "Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, 1950s", Peggy Guggenheim Collection, accessed 10 March 2012
- ^ a b "Philip Rylands", Art For Business, accessed 10 March 2012
- ^ Lauritzen and Zielcke, p. 229
- ^ a b Vail, p. 77
- ^ a b "The Palace", Peggy Guggenheim Collection, accessed 10 March 2012
- ^ Vail, p. 92.
- ^ Tacou-Rumney, p. 171
- ^ Decker, pp. 139–140
[edit] References
- Decker, Darla (2008). Urban development, cultural clusters: The Guggenheim Museum and its global distribution strategies. New York: Dissertation Abstracts International. ISBN 0549745270.
- Lauritzen, Peter; Alexander Zielcke (1978). Palaces of Venice. New York: Viking Press. ISBN 0670537241.
- Tacou-Rumney, Laurence. (1996). Peggy Guggenheim – a collector's album. Paris: Flammarion. ISBN 2080136100.
- Vail, Karole (1998). Peggy Guggenheim: A Celebration. New York: Guggenheim Museum. ISBN 0810969149.
[edit] External links
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Coordinates: 45°25′50″N 12°19′52″E / 45.43056°N 12.33111°E
