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The Arts Intel Report

Peggy Guggenheim: Petersfield to Palazzo

Peggy Guggenheim with her Lhasa Apsos terriers, on the terrace of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, 1973.

May 2 – June 15, 2024
1 St Peter's Rd, Petersfield GU32 3HX, United Kingdom

Peggy Guggenheim called herself an “art addict.” But she was also addicted to men and claimed to have had over 1,000 lovers. In 1934, Guggenheim decamped with one of them, the communist writer Douglas Garman, to the Sussex-Hampshire border near Petersfield, England. They bought a small house in Hurst and called it Yew Tree Cottage. It was quaint by Guggenheim’s standards—four bedrooms, two living rooms, luscious grounds—and she lived there until 1939, when she moved to Paris. In 1949, Guggenheim settled in Venice, in the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni. This exhibition presents paintings, prints, and sculptures by leading artists—Jean Arp, Max Ernst, and Henry Moore, among them—and gives context to the five-year Petersfield phase of Guggenheim’s fascinating life. Photographs, fashion items, and writings round out the show. —Elena Clavarino

Photo: © Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice/ Photo Archivio Cameraphoto Epoche Casa di Risparmio di Venezia, 2005