Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
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Modernist Collection
Peggy Guggenheim escaped Paris two days before the Nazi invasion, and boldly
defied established social and artistic dictates. She collected according to her own
convictions, featuring folk art and lesser-known artists alongside such radical
early modernists as Kandinsky, Picasso, Man Ray, Rothko, Mondrian, Joseph Cor-
nell and Dalí.
Italian Avant-Garde
Upon her 1948 arrival in Venice, Peggy became a spirited advocate for contempor-
ary Italian art, which had largely gone out of favour with the rise of Mussolini and
the partisan politics of WWII. Her support led to reappraisals of Umberto Boc-
cioni, Giorgio Morandi, Giacomo Balla, Giuseppe Capogrossi and Giorgio de
Chirico, and aided Venice's own Emilio Vedova and Giuseppe Santomaso. Never
afraid to make a splash, Peggy gave passing gondoliers an eyeful on her Grand
Canal quay: Marino Marini's 1948
Angel of the City
, a bronze male nude on horse-
back visibly excited by the possibilities on the horizon.
Sculpture Garden
Peggy's palace was never finished, but that didn't stop her from filling every space
indoors and out with art. In the sculpture garden, wander past bronzes by Henry
Moore, Alberto Giacometti and Constantin Brancusci; Yoko Ono's
Wish Tree
and a
shiny black-granite lump by Anish Kapoor. The city of Venice granted an honorary
dispensation for Peggy Guggenheim to be buried beneath the Giacometti sculp-
tures, alongside her dearly departed lapdogs.
Top Tips
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Save a few euro on admission to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection by bringing your
Trenitalia or Alitalia ticket to the museum. The offer is good for new arrivals with train
