Peggy Guggenheim was an American art collector. At the age of 21 in 1919, she inherited a small fortune of 2.5 million dollars from her father Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912. This would be roughly 20 million in today's money.
In 1920 she went to live in Paris, France. Once there, she became friendly with avant-garde writers and artists, many of whom were living in poverty in the Montparnasse quarter of the city. Man Ray photographed her, and was, along with Constantin Brâncuşi and Marcel Duchamp, a friend whose art she was eventually to promote.
Before and during WWII, she bought works by such modern artists as Alexander Calder, Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst (who she was married to), Kandinsky, Henri Moore, Dali, Klee, Miro, Magritte, Chagall, and George Braque. After WWII, she decided to take her collection to Venice, where it has stayed and is now an important public museum dedicated to 20th century art.
If you ever get a chance to, go see the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It's right on the Grand Canal, such a beautiful location.
2 comments :
Have you read her book, Confessions of an Art Addict? It's a great read.
No, I haven't, but I'm definitely putting it on my reading list now! :)
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