Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice has wonderful 20th-century art
From Anne Shields:
Recently I had the good fortune to visit Venice with some friends after a 52-year hiatus. And it was just as wonderful as I remember it. Included in this trip was an afternoon at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, a museum of her extensive collection of 20th-century art.
In 1949 Peggy bought a half-finished palace right on the Grand Canal, where her own personal gondolier would pick her up every day to do her errands. The 18th-century palace remains unfinished at just one story. But what a story! The museum is well worth a visit from anyone going to Venice.
Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice
My favorite piece was Magritte’s Empire of Light. It’s an odd painting with blue sky and puffy clouds at the top and dark buildings with lit street lights at the bottom. Very dramatic.
Empire of Light by René Magritte
Peggy Guggenheim had a rather sad personal life, with several marriages and a daughter who died of either anorexia or suicide–it was never clear. But she had loyal dogs, and her ashes are buried on the grounds in Venice with 15 of them–all Lhasa Apsos. Rather eccentric, I would say, but a real patron at a time when no one was interested in this art.
Anne Shields
Pastel and watercolor artist
THE WEDNESDAY STUDIO 