Guggenheim Foundation - Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Dorsoduro
701 - Venice
The Guggenehim Museum, at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni along the Grand Canal, is one of the most visited places in Venice and probably the most important exhibition container for the modern art of the early and twentieth centuries.
In fact, the museum houses a collection of twentieth century works conceived and created by the very rich "dogaressa" Peggy Guggenheim who lived in the rooms of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni for more than 30 years. The beautiful rooms of the incomplete building (there were several floors as you can guess from the facade) house a large collection of paintings by Picasso, Kandinskij, Pollock, Mir�, Duchamps, Braque. Among the Italians are some works by Balla, Severini, Morandi and Modigliani.
The collection then presents works belonging to the following artistic movements of the twentieth century: Cubism, Futurism, Metaphysical Painting, European Abstractionism, avant-garde sculpture, Surrealism and American Abstract Expressionism.
Mastepieces exposed at Guggenheim Foundation
Picasso (The poet, On the beach)
Braque (The clarinet)
Duchamp (sad young man on the train)
L�ger (Men in the city)
Brancusi (Maiastra, Bird in space)
Severini (Sea = Dancer)
Picabia (Very rare painting on earth)
De Chirico (The red tower, The nostalgia of the poet)
Mondrian (Composition No. 1 with gray and red 1938 / Composition with red 1939)
Kandinsky (Landscape with red spots no 2)
Mir� (Woman sitting II)
Giacometti (Slaughter woman, Woman walking)
Klee (Magic Garden)
Ernst (The kiss, The bride's dressing)
Magritte (The Empire of Light)
Dal� (The birth of liquid desires)
Pollock (The moon woman, Alchemy)
Gorky (Untitled)
Calder (Petal arch)
Marini (The angel of the city)
Collection Hannelore B. and Rudolph B. Schulhof: 80 works of Italian, European and American art after World War II.
Patsy R. and Raymond D. Nasher Sculpture Garden: works from the permanent collection of the Foundation of authors such as Arp, Duchamp-Villon, Ernst, Giacometti, Gilardi, Goldsworthy, Holzer, Marini, Minguzzi, Mirko, Merz, Moore, Paladino, Richier, Takis.
History of Guggenheim Museum
Palazzo Venier dei Leoni is an unfinished building, known as the "Unfinished Palace", begun in 1748 on the design of the architect Lorenzo Boschetti, author of the neoclassical facade of the Church of San Barnaba. The Venier family, present in the city from the eleventh century, decided the construction that was not completed due to financial difficulties or the aversion of the powerful Corner family, who lived in front of the majestic Palazzo Corner of Ca 'Granda, today of the Prefecture.
The palace was bought in 1910 by another art collector and diva of the high society of the early twentieth century Italian, the very rich heiress Marchesa Luisa Casati Stampa, already a lover of Gabriele D'Annunzio and a supporter of artistic talents like Boldini, Marinetti, Depero, Boccioni, Balla.
La Casati stayed there until 1924, becoming the protagonist of a life to say the least eccentric, offering receptions and pharaonic parties with the presence in the garden of cheetahs, peacocks and crows albinos.
In 1948 it will be the turn of Peggy Guggenheim who, falling in love with Venice, bought Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on the Grand Canal, definitively transferring the art collection that she had begun since 1937; the following year the Peggy Guggenheim Collection opened its doors to the public.
Architecture of the Palace
The façade has a marble stone cladding with 8 single-lancet windows divided by pilasters at the base of which there are some lion heads that probably gave the building its name. At the center of the façade there is a terrace from which there is a remarkable view on that stretch of the Grand Canal facing and which leads to the internal rooms, home of the Guggenheim Museum.
The building has only the ground floor overlooking the Grand Canal and a large remaining garden that houses some contemporary sculpture works.
How to reach the Guggenheim Foundation
By vaporetto take line 1 with a stop at the Accademia.
The Guggenheim Foundation is located along the Grand Canal, 500 meters from the Academy in the direction of Punta della Dogana.
Hours: 10 am-6pm daily. Closed on Tuesday and December 25th. The ticket office closes at 17.30.
Tickets: full € 16. Reduced (including senior over 65) € 13. Reduced (including students up to 26 years) € 9. Free for children up to 10 years and members.
Telephone: +39.041.2405411
E-mail: info@guggenheim-venice.it
Website: Fondazione
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