Description of the attraction
The Peggy Guggenheim Collection Museum is a contemporary art museum in Venice on the banks of the Grand Canal. Initially, it was the private collection of the American wealthy Peggy Guggenheim, which after her death in 1979 became the property of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The museum is housed in the 18th century Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.
The core of the collection is the personal art collection of Peggy Guggenheim, ex-wife of the artist Max Ernst and niece of the powerful tycoon Solomon Guggenheim. Peggy collected her collection from 1938 to 1946 - she bought paintings in Europe when World War II began, and later in America. It was she who opened the world to the talent of Jackson Pollock. Today, the museum houses an impressive collection of modern art, which is visited by up to 400 thousand people annually. Among the works presented here are famous Italian futurists and American modernists, cubist painters, surrealists and abstractionists. In addition to its own funds, the museum contains works from the collection of Gianni Mattioli, including paintings by the Italian futurists Boccioni, Carr, Russolo, Severini, as well as works by Balla, Depero, Rosai, Sironi and Sofici. By the beginning of 2012, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection was considered the most visited art gallery in Venice and the 11th most visited in Italy.
A few words should be said about the building that houses the museum - Palazzo Venier dei Leoni with its Istrian stone façade. Peggy bought it in 1949 and lived here for the rest of her life. The Palazzo is sometimes mistaken for a modern building, but in reality it was built in the 18th century by the architect Lorenzo Boschetti. In 1951, the palace, its garden, today the Nasher Sculpture Garden, and its art collection were first opened to the public.
