the guggenheim.

last saturday (the 30th), the other girls and i went to the guggenheim. there are four "guggenheim" museums, all operating as a part of the solomon r. guggenheim foundation. this one is the private collection of peggy guggenheim, wife of artist max ernst and niece of solomon, the orig guggenheim. this little museum is located in peggy's home on the grand canal, the palazzo venier dei leoni. this 18th century palazzo was never finished: only the ground floor was ever built, and peggy lived there until her death in 1979. after her death, the collection (which she had collected through her life and donated to her uncle's foundation) was opened to the public.

this museum has an amazing collection of modern art, especially when you consider that most of the pieces within are from peggy's private collection. there are works by picasso, dalí, magritte, kandinsky, and pollock. the courtyard of the museum also has a scupture collection, and there is another building behind the main house that holds special exhibits. the exhibit there now is called "utopia matters: from brotherhoods to bauhaus," and it examines the influence of utopian-esque environments on modern western art, moving from the french primitifs through the german bauhaus and russian constructivism.

OH. MY. GOD. it was soooo incredible. i never thought i'd see a dalí painting in real life, let alone works by ernst and magritte as well. here are some of my favorites:

the sun in its jewel case by yves tanguy
(this wins the prize for absolute favorite)

pi by john tunnard

at the cycle-race track by jean metzinger

the red tower by giorgio de chirico

little machine constructed by minimax dadamax in person
by max ernst

the postman cheval by max ernst

chapala 3 by charles pollock

the birth of liquid desires by salvador dalí

the voice of space by rené magritte

the empire of light by rené magritte

setting for a fairy tale by joseph cornell
(this was awesome; it was a shadowbox).

defeat by stanley william hayter

upward by wassily kandinsky

and these next three were from the special exhibit:


a baron numbering his vassals by sir john everett millais

in the current six thresholds by paul klee

blue painting by wassily kandinsky

all in all, one of the absolute coolest art museums i have ever been to. the location was amazing, too; the terrace of her house opened onto the grand canal. i'll upload a pic or two of that later, but right now my camera is super dead. night, y'all.