The last true gondola-riding icon
In 2023, my soul found its way to the Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice. What a treasure trove it was.
Today, let’s turn our gaze to Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979) herself, the legend behind the museums, and the oh-so-chic sunglasses. This force of nature saw the potential in artists when the rest of the world was still flicking through the darkness. She wasn’t just a patron; she was a true trailblazer.
Let’s wander through the legacy of Peggy, together.
Peggy Guggenheim in the apartment of Kay Sage, in Paris, 1940. Via Guggenheim Venice Twitter
Peggy wasn’t an average heiress. She was a bohemian, a mystery, and yes, a kind of lonely, but living a life that was one big, shimmering adventure. Born into New York luxury with German aristocracy in her veins, Peggy didn’t follow the script. Instead of fancy soirées, you’d find her buried in books or lost in the stacks of a Greenwich Village bookstore.
Peggy was only 14 when her father died on the Titanic, his body was never found.
Then came Paris at 21. It was the height of the Jazz Age and Peggy loved the French Avant-Garde. The cafés and salons overflowed with writers, artists, architects and anarchists. She threw her inheritance at the feet of artists like Dalí and Kandinsky, long before the world caught on.
Peggy Guggenheim and Max Ernst. Via huffingtonpost.com
But then, the darkness came. As the Nazis loomed, Peggy’s dream of a Parisian gallery was dashed. With her eclectic art treasures in tow, she sought refuge for them, but the Louvre turned her down cold. So, into a friend's barn they went, hidden from the storm about to engulf the city.
New York called her back. There, she’d kickstart Jackson Pollock’s career and shine a spotlight on female artists. But Peggy was searching for more than the New York scene could offer.
The wardrobe of Peggy was a kaleidoscope of the bold and the beautiful. Her Elsa Schiaparelli's cellophane wonders, earrings so grand they deserved their own exhibition on her bedroom walls. Peggy’s fashion was a riot of color and creativity, flying high above the conventional. In a world of black and white, Peggy lived in technicolor. It was her signature style: to look like a walking piece of art
© Peggy Guggenheim Collection Archives, Venice
Venice was the final chapter, where Peggy, clad in her trademark eclectic fashion, became the city’s unofficial bohemian queen. Gliding through canals with her furry companions (she had fourteen dogs in her lifetime, with names like “Hong Kong”, “Peacock” and “Madame Butterfly”), she lived out her days surrounded by the art and artists she adored.
Peggy Guggenheim, image courtesy of artemodernapordenone.it
It’s impossible to imagine what the art world would be today without Peggy, but it certainly wouldn’t have been as fun. From New York socialite to Venetian art matriarch, Peggy Guggenheim was the last true gondola-riding, art-loving, rule-breaking icon of Venice. A scene straight out of a more glamorous time that we won’t see again.