Guggenheim, Peggy

Guggenheim, Peggy (1898-1979), American art collector and philanthropist, granddaughter of Meyer Guggenheim, born in New York, where she was educated. In 1920 she went to Paris, where she became friendly with avant-garde writers and artists. In 1938 she opened a gallery for modern art in England and began to collect works of art. She opened a gallery, called Art of This Century, in New York in 1942; she subsequently became instrumental in advancing the careers of many important modern artists, including Jackson Pollock, Hans Hofmann, and her husband, Max Ernst. In 1946 she returned to Europe and settled in Venice where, in 1951, she established an art collection in her home, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, which developed into one of the most important museums of European and American art of the first half of the 20th century and became known as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. It is owned and operated by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in New York. Peggy Guggenheim continued to live in Venice until her death.