Peggy’s Place

Tops on Michelle’s list of sights in Venice was the world-famed Peggy Guggenheim Museum, the namesake’s home in Venice and one of the great collections of 20th century art in the world.

Monday was dry, though still cloudy and cold, and we chose to take the vaporetto from the Rialto to the Accademia, then walk the bank of the canal as much as possible to the museum. For the first time since we arrived in Venice, the tide was very high, lapping right up to the top steps of the canal landings. The vaporetto held its speed down significantly to avoid throwing a wake.

The water level on Monday threatened to overlap the banks of the canal.
The water level on Monday threatened to overlap the banks of the canal.

Peggy’s place is purportedly a house museum displaying her massive collection of 20th century art. Unfortunately, most of the furniture that made her house a home has been removed to create space in the galleries to display all the art. Her bed head, created by Alexander Calder, is mounted to the bedroom wall, hanging by two screws with plastic anchors, just like we do at home. The only room that remains furnished more or less as it was during her life is the dining room that features a 17th century Venetian table and accompanying sideboard. As much as we are fans of house museums, we had hoped the Peggy Guggenheim would have been more house than museum. But it’s quite a museum in its own right.

The tide came right up to the canal side wall of the Peggy Guggenheim.
The tide came right up to the canal side wall of the Peggy Guggenheim.
The exhuberant and highly aroused sculpture on the plaza overlooking the canal is a visitor favorite at the Peggy Guggenheim.
The exhuberant and highly aroused sculpture on the plaza overlooking the canal is a visitor favorite at the Peggy Guggenheim.

In fact, the juxtaposition of the Accademia just down the Grand Canal from the Peggy Guggenheim creates an unmatched set of art history bookends featuring the best of the Venetian Renaissance and the best of theĀ  early and mid 20th century.

After our visit to the Peggy Guggenheim, we made the trek back to San Marco to check out Lundi Gras activities. The crowds were large but starting to diminish somewhat, as the weekenders went back home after the wet Sunday. The costuming, however, was increasing. And the security was gone, vanished.

After watching the kids’ costume contest and some gondola craftsmanship for a few minutes, we headed back to Canareggio and the Rialto for a pizza lunch followed by a long walk of exploration before Michelle had to get back to her hotel and leave for the airport.

Even though the masks were about to become worthless in a day, the vendors held more or less firm on their pricing, which was higher than Michelle wanted to pay for a souvenir. She finally settled on a nice little version in pinkish and gold, very Venetian style, to take home as proof of her visit.

 

 

 

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