Peggy Guggenheim inherited two and a half million dollars from the estates of her mother and father when she turned 21 in 1919, and she decided to use it to fund her passion for art. A free-spirited and tireless woman who visited prominent artists of the time in their studios, she became a visionary collector who established galleries in New York and London.
After consulting with some of the most knowledgeable minds in art at the time—including Marcel Duchamp, art historian Herbert Read, and Samuel Beckett—she decided to invest in modern art. Today these works are found in the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, housed in the palazzo on the Grand Canal that was her home.
Art historian Joseph Paul Cassar discusses Guggenheim’s background and provides a critical analysis of key works in her collection.
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