Peggy Guggenheim is an American gallery owner, art collector and philanthropist. She made a huge contribution to the development of contemporary visual arts.
Margaret Guggenheim, the youngest child of a major industrialist who died on the Titanic, went down in history as Peggy. Her biography began in 1898.
Choice of future activities
The girl was born on August 26 in New York. Father, constantly busy with work, spent time in Europe. In 1912, a disaster struck. Benjamin Guggenheim died in the Titanic disaster. He gave up his place in the boat for the sake of women with children. The daughter became an heiress, but only after coming of age.
She remained in the care of Uncle Solomon. The famous entrepreneur was a great connoisseur of art. He developed a refined taste in the girl. The niece worked in the bookstore, not wanting to sit around. She organized exhibitions of avant-garde writers. After receiving the inheritance, Peggy went to Paris.
She met many celebrities. Guggenheim visited exhibitions, met with surrealists. Margaret became a patroness for many. She decided to become a film producer and create her own gallery. The heiress began to create the collection. She decided to invest all the money in painting. The famous American painter Marcel Duchamp became an assistant in the purchase of works of art.
He recommended that a novice gallery owner buy paintings by novice artists. Thanks to intuition, Peggy acquired promising canvases. Her collection includes works by Kandinsky, Picasso, Dali, Cocteau. Gradually the canvases grew in price, and the fortune increased.
At the same time, it was the Guggenheim, who diligently promoted their work, prepared recognition for many later famous painters. She organized exhibitions for them, found clients willing to purchase their paintings.
Collection start
In 1938 on Cork Street in London at the first exhibition Guggenheim Jeune the paintings of Jean Cocteau presented there were a huge success. With the outbreak of World War II, the gallery owner acquired most of the surrealist's works, adding to the already impressive collection. At the same time she exhibited the works of the novice painter Kandinsky.
By the early forties, Peggy had rented a visit for a gallery in Paris. But because of the occupation of France, she hurried to leave the country and went to New York. The Art of This Century gallery opened there soon turned into one of the most original and fashionable exhibitions. Until 1946, the gallery owner collected noteworthy canvases in America and Europe.
The collection has grown steadily with masterpieces. Guggenheim decided to create her own museum. For three years, the gallery owner has participated in various exhibitions. In the fifties, Peggy attended the Venice Biennale. She realized that it was time to organize a museum that belonged only to her. Venice was ideal for realizing the goal. On the banks of the canal, a celebrity acquired a snow-white palace.
Her collection of rarities moved into it. The patron organized the decor according to her own taste. Since 1949, the house has become a museum, in which the owner lived, side by side with works of art.
Over the course of a decade, she has collected more than three hundred works of outstanding masters. Guggenheim decided to stay in Venice. An extravagant and purposeful nature performed all actions with amazing flair.
Even in her personal life, she was guided by common sense. Peggy's chosen one was Lawrence Weil. In the company of her husband, a half-artist and half-writer, Margaret began the conquest of Paris.
Family and vocation
Weil introduced his wife to the elite, the sights of Paris. The family existed for 7 years. The couple had two children, Sinbad and Peggin.
Gradually, Peggy realized that she and her husband had become strangers. She kept friendly relations, since she remembered that Weil opened the doors for her to the Parisian beau monde.
The new chosen one of the Guggenheim was the writer Johnny Holmes. The third spouse was Max Ernst. The paintings of the great artist adorned the collection of his wife.
Peggy received the title of guardian angel of the surrealists and avant-garde artists. Among her talents was the gift of choosing truly outstanding personalities as companions in life.
Last years
In 1948, the famous gallery owner finally moved to the birches of the Andriatic. She became the most famous representative of the Guggenheim family. Margaret lived in her own palace, bought a gondola for daily walks along the canals. She dressed in a very original way.
The patron's outfits were distinguished by the African style. She loved a lot of feathers, massive accessories. She was accompanied by a retinue, dressed in turquoise clothes. In such a fabulous way, the gallery owner was remembered by Venice. In 1976, the Peggy Museum became part of the Guggenheim Foundation.
The famous entrepreneur died in 1979, on December 23. Peggy rose to fame as one of the most prominent women of her time. In 2012, her gallery was recognized as the most visited in Venice.
In 2015, a feature film by the famous director Lisa Immordino Vrelend was shot about the famous patron of the arts. The film told about the life of a representative of the Guggenheim family, contributing to her formation of intuition and about her no less famous collection of men, whom she collected in the same way as the famous canvases.
Margaret herself did not paint pictures, but she was a painter who transforms reality into a person. She lived her life brightly and richly, supporting dozens of talents. And this is no small art.
