Peggy Guggenheim is like water: changeable, tenacious, ready to overflow when the banks become too much like an enclosure.
The works of art she collected over ...
After closing her New York museum-gallery, Art of This Century, in 1947, Peggy Guggenheim feels that there is only one place that she can truly call home: Venice. The city has taken up all the space left in her heart and is the place where she feels truly happy. The works she has collected with such passion and determination finally find a permanent home, where they are still on view today.
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Ep. 3 - A Painting a Day
Great loves can be recognized almost immediately because they cause a very specific feeling: they make us feel at home. Perhaps this is how Peggy Guggenheim feels the first time she holds a bronze sculpture by Jean Arp. She purchases it, and it becomes the first piece of her collection. Acquiring one artwork after another, she develops the idea of opening a museum.
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17:25
Ep. 2 - Beyond Art
The bohemian scene of 1920s Paris welcomes Peggy Guggenheim at a pivotal moment in her coming of age. She begins her work as a patron, forging friendships and romantic relationships that will forever shape her life. Not all these relationships will make her happy, but each will enrich her and bring her closer to her passions: first literature, then art.
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Ep. 1 - Where It All Begins
Peggy Guggenheim is born into a family that has achieved the American Dream: both her grandfathers emigrated from Europe with third-class tickets and went on to find fortune in the United States, becoming some of the wealthiest men of their time. However, despite her family's considerable prosperity, Guggenheim experiences an unhappy childhood and soon embarks on a long journey towards freedom.
Peggy Guggenheim is like water: changeable, tenacious, ready to overflow when the banks become too much like an enclosure.
The works of art she collected over forty years and made accessible to all speak of a life that found its deepest meaning in the continuous pursuit of beauty. But Guggenheim was much more than that. She was a woman who anticipated the future—extraordinarily modern, relatable, and free.
This podcast, created for the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, is dedicated to Guggenheim’s life and her love for art.
CREDITS
‘I WANTED TO BE FREE’ is a podcast created and produced by Chora Media, in collaboration with the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.
Written by Silvia Nucini and translated by Alex Valente
Editorial supervision by Sara Poma
Edited by Francesca Abruzzese
Sound and music supervision by Luca Micheli
Post production and sound design by: Emanuele Moscatelli
Project manager: Monia Donati,
Senior producer: Ilaria Celeghin
Postproduction coordinator: Matteo Scelsa
Sound engineer: Luca Possi
Recording engineer: Giacomo Zilio
With thanks to CATERINA SFORZA for playing the role of the main voice.
With thanks to ROSITA MARTIN for reading the excerpts from Peggy Guggenheim’s autobiography, Out of This Century: Confessions of an Art Addict (London: Andre Deutsch, 1979), and Michelangelo Muraro’s Invitation to Venice (London: Paul Hamlyn, 1963)
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