Peggy Guggenheim: The Collector Who Shaped Modern Art

Peggy Guggenheim, born Marguerite Guggenheim in New York on August 26, 1898, into a wealthy family, became a pivotal figure linking European and American modernism. After inheriting at 21, she worked at the Sunwise Turn bookstore in Manhattan, a hub for avant-garde literature and socialist ideals. Moving to Paris in 1920, she befriended Marcel Duchamp, who mentored her. She opened the Guggenheim Jeune gallery in London in 1938 with Duchamp's help, featuring artists like Jean Cocteau, Wassily Kandinsky, and Henry Moore. During WWII, she amassed a core collection of modern masterpieces for $40,000, following a list by Herbert Read. Returning to New York in 1941, she opened the Art of This Century gallery, designed by Frederick Kiesler, showcasing surrealist, kinetic, cubist, and abstract art. She supported Jackson Pollock with a monthly stipend and held the first all-women exhibition in 1942. After closing the gallery, she moved to Venice, where the Biennale invited her to exhibit her collection in 1948. She purchased Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, opening it to the public in the 1950s. She died on December 23, 1979, leaving a collection of over 300 works by 100 influential 20th-century artists, now housed at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.