Peggy Guggenheim, A Scandalous Modern Woman By: Denise Benson
When I vacationed in Italy for the first time, I created a list of destinations around the art I wanted to see.
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lorence introduced me to Michelangelo’s statue of David in the Accademia, and in the Uffizi, I embraced Botticelli’s Birth of Venus. When in Milan, of course, I only had eyes for da Vinci’s The Last Supper. But of all the museums, I was most excited about Peggy Guggenheim’s Collection in Venice. I was captivated knowing the museum is in her home, the Venier dei Leoni palazzo on the Grand Canal in Venice. Peggy purchased the palazzo in 1949 and lived there until her death in 1979. It seemed so intimate to view art in an actual home, rather than a formal museum setting. And, what could be better than a home on the Grand Canal in Venice?
The journey to Peggy’s home began with a walk down narrow alleyways and bridges and through the backsides of various palazzos and apartamentos with laundry hanging off balconies to dry in the afternoon sun. Relying on the few small brass plaques posted on some street corners, my husband and I happened upon an unassuming gate to the palazzo.
even had actual photographs of Peggy in sitting amongst her art collection. The view of the Grand Canal from the palazzo windows is breathtaking and dreamy enough for me to imagine the years of stories that we may never know about Peggy’s life. There are accounts vividly capture in Djuna Barnes’s novel, Nightwood. Djuna spent a period of her life living in Peggy’s home. After spending the afternoon at this special place, I wondered about the woman behind the art. Peggy Guggenheim was born into great wealth yet her life was not what people expected. Her father, Benjamin Meyer, and his family made their fortune smelting metals. Many people don’t know that Peggy’s father died tragically, aboard the Titanic, and left this branch of the Guggenheim family with less wealth. Peggy’s Her mother, Florette Siegelman, came from a banking family. and was an eccentric woman. She was not very maternal to her three young daughters and Peggy often felt neglected as a child.
The inviting courtyard was green with shrubbery and spare grass lawns to accommodate the sculptures in the garden. I took a moment to sit in the warm sunlight admiring the statue of Pomona by Marino Marini. This peaceful place to meditate and admire the art made me envious of Pomona residing in such a lovely place!
While Peggy chafed at what she considered her dull and “bourgeois” upbringing, she was determined this would not rule her life. Equipped with a generous trust fund likely worth about between $5-10 million dollars in today’s world, Peggy moved to Paris at the age of twenty-one to build a life with her husband, Laurence Vail.
Inside Peggy Guggenheim’s home, the artwork included exceptional examples of cubism, European abstraction, surrealism and abstract expressionism.
Immediately, Peggy immersed herself in the world of art. She made it her personal mission to support struggling artists and championed their work with her keen eye for talent. Nothing was too much for Peggy who even supported some of these artists like Jackson Pollack by guaranteeing them an advanced salary so they could focus on their art and quite their day jobs.
Peggy’s original dining table and a sideboard are still on display with odd pieces of original furnishings in other rooms scattered amongst the artwork. Seeing the artwork still hanging in the same rooms as they did when Peggy lived there made the experience intimate and enjoyable. A few of the rooms
30 WS Magazine / Issue 01 / July 2019
Something quite unusual at the time was also Peggy’s very curious sexual drive. She thought nothing
