Europe’s Great Collectors: The Guggenheims and Their Artistic Legacy in Europe

By Dean Gregory, to Museum Spotlight Europe

Art enthusiasts may be familiar with the esteemed Guggenheim Museum in New York. The space, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, offers an exquisite setting for exploring modern masterpieces by artists like Cezanne, Kandinsky, and Gaugin. However, the legacy of the Guggenheim family and their commitment to art extends beyond the United States. Over the years, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation has established museums in Spain, Italy, and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates. For visitors to Europe, the museums in Bilbao, Spain and Venice, Italy offer a unique experience to enjoy modern and contemporary masters from Europe and the United States. Below, we’ll talk about the Guggenheim legacy and their two fantastic European museums.

Who were the Guggenheims?

The Guggenheim family was critical in shaping the United States both in business and the arts. The family patriarch Meyer Guggenheim immigrated to America from Switzerland in 1847. The family, with proud Ashkenazi Jewish roots, became a force globally in industry, through the establishment of the American Smelting and Refining Company. Over time, the family came to amass one of the largest fortunes in the world. Solomon, the son of Meyer, founded the Yukon Gold Company in Alaska as well as established the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1937 and the subsequent Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City. With their wealth, the Guggenheims became dedicated philanthropists in art and science. In addition to the art institutions, the family founded the I. M. Pei’s Guggenheim Pavilion at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City and the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory.

The Peggy Guggenheim Museum in Venice, Italy

Housing one of the most seminal collections for American and European art from the first half of the 20th century in Italy, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection occupies a unique space in the former palazzo of its founder and namesake. Located on the Grand Canal in Venice, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni features the personal collection of Peggy Guggenheim. The collection holds seminal works from periods of Futurism, Cubism, European abstraction, Surrealism and American Abstract Expressionism, among other styles. Highlights of the collection include Picasso’s The Poet, Braque’s The Clarinet, Giacometti’s Woman with Her Throat Cut, Jackson Pollock’s The Moon Woman and Alchemy, as well as Duchamp’s Sad Young Man on a Train.

Born in New York City in 1898, Peggy Guggenheim continued her family’s tradition of philanthropy and artistic education. After losing her father in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912, Peggy moved to Europe in 1921 and embraced the art community in Paris and London, where she rubbed shoulders with Marcel Duchamp, Jean Cocteau, and Vasily Kandinsky. Fleeing Europe during World War II to return to New York, she became instrumental in launching the careers of then-unknown American painters, Robert Motherwell, Mark Rothko and Jackson Pollock.

By 1947, Peggy returned to Europe, basing herself in Venice where her collection was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1948, introducing for the first time to European audiences the aforementioned American artists. Shortly after, she purchased the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. By the 1970s, she donated her palazzo and art collection to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. After her passing in 1979, the ashes of Peggy Guggenheim found their final resting place in a corner of the garden at the museum in Venice.

Currently, a special exhibition is taking place at the Peggy Guggenheim until November, 25, 2018, entitled 1948: The Biennale of Peggy Guggenheim. The exhibition marks the 70th anniversary of the showing of her collection in the Greek Pavilion at the 24th Venice Biennale. Under the design of esteemed Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, the current show recreates partially the atmosphere of the pavilion at that time through letters, photographs and other documents, with an unprecedented three-dimensional model of the pavilion installation.

Located on the Grand Canal between the Church of Santa Maria della Salute and the Accademia Bridge, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection is easily accessible by vaporetto from the Piazza San Marco and other central locations in the city.

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain

Established in 1997, the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao picks-up where the Peggy Guggenheim museum in Venice leaves off by focusing on European and American art from the mid-20th century through contemporary times. The American highlights of the collection include works by Richard Serra, Cy Twombly’s Nine Discourses on Commodus, Robert Rauschenberg’s Barge, Joseph Beuys’s Lightning with Stag in its Glare and Jeff Koons’s Puppy. The museum features European painters such as Anselm Kiefer, Richard Long and Francesco Clemente. Local Basque artists Antoni Tàpies, Antonio Saura and Juan Muñoz are on display as well.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao space was designed by the American architect Frank Gehry. The feat is as a seminal example of revolutionary 20th-century architecture. Constructed over four years in the mid-1990s, the space rests on a previous wharf on the banks of the Nervión River. The Gehry structure serves as a focal piece for revitalization efforts by the city of Bilbao to redevelop the river area for leisure and culture. Given the mathematical sophistication required by the Gehry design, the architect and his team employed software that was originally conceived for aerospace needs. The resulting structure functions as a grand sculpture blended into the urban landscape of Bilbao, where it is surrounded by alluring squares and avenues signaling the city’s transition from its industrial ancestry.

The museum experience, designed by Gehry, extends to the exterior of the space where visitors can walk around the entire museum. Guests will notice the medley of configurations from unique perspectives. In addition, several artworks have been installed outdoors for visitors to discover such as works by Louise Bourgeois, Yves Klein, and Jeff Koons.

Upcoming special exhibitions at the Guggenheim in Bilbao include an exhibition dedicated to the Thannhauser Collection of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The show, which takes place from September 21, 2018 to March 24, 2019, features works by van Gogh, Picasso, Degas and Cézanne. The other is a retrospective of Alberto Giacometti taking place from October 19, 2018 to February 24, 2019.

Situated in the center of Bilbao, the Guggenheim Museum is easily accessible by public transportation and taxi from several nearby several hotels.

With its continued commitment to art and culture, visitors to both Guggenheim museums in Europe can expect the legacy of the family to continue into the future, allowing future generations to discover the splendor and richness of one of the world’s foremost collections of European and American art.