Peggy Guggenheim - Art Addict

PEGGY GUGGENHEIM: ART ADDICT

Film by LISA IMMORDINO VREELAND

2015 / Colour, Black & White/ USA / 96 min. / English

When one hears the name Guggenheim, what first comes to mind is the renown New York's art institution Guggenheim Museum, the full name of which is Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. What is much less known is that the first art collector in this very rich extended family was not Solomon, but his rather eccentric (by the standards of those times) niece Peggy Guggenheim.

The film narrates Peggy's biography and, most importantly, it presents an in depth look on how and why she became interested in art and in collecting art. It tells the viewer about her art galleries in Europe, New York, and of her opening later in her life an Art Museum in Venice, Italy.

Peggy Guggenheim had a very keen eye for the avangard modern art of her time. For instance, she was the one who first promoted Jackson Pollock and commissioned his works. She also knew and associated with all the who-is-who of the emerging new art in the beginning of the twentieth century. She was even married to the surrealist German painter Max Ernst.

The film is a fascinating kaleidoscopic presentation of life and accomplishments of this very unique woman. I highly recommend it especially to all the art and art history lovers.

Film's Official Synopsis

"She discovered Jackson Pollock and married Max Ernst. She exhibited the works of a very young Lucian Freud in her London gallery, and those of Robert de Niro’s mother in her palace in Venice. Her father died on the Titanic, she was photographed by Man Ray, played tennis with Ezra Pound and had a passionate love affair with Samuel Beckett. In the 20th century, she witnessed and assisted with the making of the greatest contemporary artists, while developing an eccentric, endearing personality. Using rare archival images, interviews with experts and recordings of her interviews with biographer Jacqueline B. Weld, filmmaker Lisa Immordino Vreeland lays out the fascinating, stranger- than-fiction life of the most remarkable Peggy Guggenheim."