Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa

Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa. An exhibition held at the Guggenheim Venice, that ran between September 2019 and January 2020.

The exhibition, celebrated the Venetian life of its founder and highlighted the events and the exhibitions, during the 30 years she spent in Venice from 1948-1979; which proved to be authentic milestones in the history of 20th century art.

The Last Dogaressa Exhibition

Photographs of her Venice period

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“It is always assumed that Venice is the ideal place for a honeymoon.

This is a grave error. To live in Venice or even to visit it means that you fall in love with the city itself.

There is nothing left over in your heart for anyone else.”

Peggy Guggenheim – Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Add**t.

Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa – Exhibition

The Peggy Guggenheim Collection’s exhibition, “Peggy Guggenheim: The Last Dogaressa,” celebrated the founder’s Venetian life, spotlighting the pivotal events and exhibitions from her 30 years in Venice, from 1948 to 1979, which were significant milestones in 20th-century art history.

The exhibition showcased Guggenheim’s acquisitions post-1947, following the closure of her New York museum-gallery “Art of This Century” and her subsequent move to Venice.

Featuring over 60 works by both renowned and lesser-known artists, including paintings, sculptures, and works on paper, the collection spanned acquisitions from the late 1940s until her death in 1979. It provided a unique chance to revisit and recontextualize celebrated masterpieces like René Magritte’s “Empire of Light” and Francis Bacon’s “Study of a Chimpanzee,” alongside seldom-seen pieces such as René Brô’s “Autumn at Courgeron,” Gwyther Irwin’s “Serendipity 2,” Kenzo Okada’s “Above the White,” and Tomonori Toyofuku’s “Drifting No. 2,” showcasing Guggenheim’s engagement with the global art scene.

Additionally, Guggenheim’s scrapbooks, filled with newspaper clippings, photographs, and other memorabilia from various stages of her life, were exhibited for the first time.

The exhibition also included works dating back to 1938 from her inaugural London gallery “Guggenheim Jeune,” predating her move to Venice.

Another highlight was Marcel Duchamp’s “Box in a Valise,” an assemblage of sixty-nine miniature replicas of famous artworks by the iconoclastic French-American artist, rarely displayed due to their delicate nature.

This was an extraordinary chance to view nearly the entire collection of Guggenheim’s works, complemented by an intriguing installation in the garden enclosures.

Below: Final Resting Place in the Garden for Peggy and her beloved babies