A visit to Peggy Guggenheim’s Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, Venice

Day one of our Venice trip was for Architecture while day two was for art.

We had an early breakfast and made our way to Palazzo Venier dei Leoni where Peggy Guggenheim lived and is now a museum.

There was a large queue when we arrived at 9.30am, even though the museum doesn't open until 10am. When it did open, it took a long time to process tickets and we got in at about 10.20am. The entrance fee is €15 and we paid an additional €7 for an audio tour.

Peggy Guggenheim: Art Collector, Supporter and Patron of Living Artists

Peggy Guggenheim is one of the most famous supporters and art collectors of modern art. She brought so many young artists to the attention of the world and without her support who knows what the art world would look like today. Samuel Beckett had told Peggy that one must support artists and it is best to buy paintings from living artists. Guggenheim certainly took this on board with one of her most famous painters that she collected being Jackson Pollock. 

Guggenheim’s private collection is stunning and includes works by all of the modern 20th century art masters like Picasso, Mondrian, Kandinsky, Ernst, Chagar, Kli, Miró, Pollock, Brown Cousy, Dali, Magritte and Bacon

My blog musings won't do the collection any justice (it really is something you must go and see yourself) so to that end I give you this Jackson Pollock picture that I photographed in the Peggy Guggenheim museum.

Not only is this an incredible permant exhibition of art, the setting is fairly sensational too. It’s my number one must-visit attraction while you are visiting Venice.

Tips for visiting Peggy Guggenheim’s Palazzo Venier dei Leoni in Venice

• Arrive early before the ticket line builds up (if you haven’t bought tickets online)

• Probably best to buy tickets online from the official Peggy Guggenheim website when making a plan to visit

• Buy the audio guide

• Note the closing times, and make sure you give yourself at the very least 90 mins to 2 hours + to see everything before the museum closes

• Plan your visit: check out the website to see what temporary exhibitions are on view and make sure you go see these aswell as the permanent exhibitions

• Some of the rooms can be very busy so leave the backpack in the hotel

• Nasher Sculpture Gardens are the area around the museum - make sure you have time to visit them too.

• Prepare to be wowed!

Peggy Guggenheim Museum Location & contact details:

Palazzo Venier dei Leoni
Dorsoduro 701
I-30123 Venice

tel: +39 041 2405 411
e-mail: info@guggenheim-venice.it

Architectural Tour of Venice

To see more of my Venice travels, click my previous blog to read about the Venice Architectural tour that I did where I visited the works of Architect Carlo Scarpa