Solomon R. Guggenheim 

Solomon R. Guggenheim (b. 1861, Philadelphia; d. 1949, New York) was an industrialist in the metallurgy industry who lived in New York. Advised by artist Hilla Rebay, he started supporting ground-breaking European avant-garde art in 1929 and acquired works by abstract artists like Vasily Kandinsky. 

In 1937, Guggenheim established a foundation with the goal of creating a museum in New York City designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and located on Fifth Avenue. 

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened its doors in 1959 with a founding collection of 150 works, which increased over the years until reaching 2,000 pieces today. 

Peggy Guggenheim 

Peggy Guggenheim (b. 1898, New York; d. 1979, Venice), Solomon R. Guggenheim’s niece, was passionate about art from her youth. She got closely involved with European artists, devoted exhibitions to them in her London gallery, and acquired their works in Paris under the slogan of “buy a picture a day.” This is how she protected many creations from the threat of Nazism in the late 1930s.  

During her exile in New York compelled by the war, she continued to promote exiled European artists at her museum/gallery Art of This Century (1942–47), as well as new generations of US artists, like the abstract expressionists. Her patronage of painter Jackson Pollock (b. 1912; d. 1956) was crucial in his career. 

After World War II, Peggy Guggenheim returned to Europe. In 1947, she permanently moved to Venice and dedicated her life to her collection. In 1951, she opened the doors to her residence to allow access to her private art holdings. 

In 1970, she donated her Palazzo Venier dei Leoni to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and in 1976 she donated her collection