Sheroes

Peggy Guggenheim

A courageous collector who defied convention

An art world pioneer, Peggy Guggenheim (1898-1979) discovered some of the greatest artists of the 20th century, and built one of the most important modern art collections in the world. She also taught us some important lessons in how to dress.

Peggy Guggenheim was an American heiress who moved to Europe in the 1920s and became one of the most important art curators of the century. Guided only by her own taste, she championed abstract and Surrealist artists, and discovered Jackson Pollock. She was also a key figure in saving so-called “degenerate” art and artists from the Nazis during the Second World War.

Eccentric style that endures

Known for her bold personal style, Guggenheim was not afraid to make a statement: She once wore two different earrings, one designed by Tanguy and one by Alexander Calder, to a gallery opening to show that Surrealism and abstraction could get along just fine. Just as iconic were her famous eyeglasses: butterfly frames she commissioned from artist Edward Melcarth, and a testament to her quirky aesthetic.

Guggenheim’s work was as courageous as her wardrobe. Gloriously outspoken (her memoir details her liaisons with the likes of Samuel Beckett and John Cage), she continued to buy works in London and Paris after war broke out, only fleeing to the States in 1941. Undaunted by the bombs overhead, she was busy acquiring Constantin Brancusi’s Bird in Space even as the Germans approached Paris.

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