Peggy Guggenheim Collection

Peggy Guggenheim bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in 1948 and lived there for thirty years with her collection on the walls. The palace was begun in 1749 and abandoned after one storey, so it is unusually low and wide on a canal of tall facades. The collection covers cubism, surrealism and abstract expressionism, with Picasso, Ernst, Magritte, Brancusi and Pollock, whom she supported early and exhibited when he was unknown. Marino Marini's rider stands on the canal terrace with a detachable part that she reportedly removed when nuns passed. She is buried in the garden beside her dogs.

Background

The museum stands in the Dorsoduro sestiere. Peggy Guggenheim bought most of the works between 1938 and 1946, first in Europe and then in America, and from 1951 she opened her home to the public each season. When she died in 1979 the collection went to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which has kept it open all year since 1980. It also shows 26 long-term loans from the Gianni Mattioli Collection, among them Italian futurists such as Umberto Boccioni and Carlo Carrà, and since 2012 a separate gallery has held 83 works received from the Rudolph and Hannelore Schulhof Collection. Around 400,000 people visit each year. Karole Vail, her granddaughter, became director in 2017.

Source: Wikipedia, "Peggy Guggenheim Collection"

What to look for

• The unfinished palace - one storey of a building never completed.
• The collection - Picasso, Ernst, Magritte, Brancusi and early Pollock.
• The Marini rider - a bronze on the canal terrace with its own story.
• The garden graves - Peggy Guggenheim and her dogs buried on site.

When to go

Year-round; it closes Tuesdays. It is busiest in the Biennale months. The canal terrace is pleasant in mild weather. Allow about two hours.

What to expect

The building is small and gets crowded quickly. It closes Tuesdays. Some works travel to other exhibitions and are absent.

Nearby

The Accademia lies west; the Salute church is east.

Key facts