Solomon R. Guggenheim(1861-1949)
He grew up in wealthy circumstances as the son of Meyer Guggenheim. After graduating from high school, he studied in Philadelphia and Switzerland. Solomon Guggenheim became a millionaire as a copper industrialist. With his passion for collecting old master paintings, he joined the tradition of New York's moneyed nobility. His brother, Benjamin Guggenheim, died in the sinking of the Titanic in 1912. With the acquaintance of the German painter Baroness Hilla Rebay von Ehrenwiesen, who introduced him to European artists of the abstract style, Solomon R. Guggenheim collected modern and contemporary art. In the beginning these were particularly works by Wassily Kandinsky and Marc Chagall. Kandinsky's works became the central foundation stone for what later became the Solomon Guggenheim Museum and the largest collection of Kandinsky works in the world. Solomon Guggenheim was not only a collector but also an art patron. With his purchases of contemporary art, he supported artists and disseminated their works.
Guggenheim acquired numerous important works by avant-garde artists from Europe such as Pieter Mondriaan, Pablo Picasso, László Moholy-Nagy and Robert Delaunay. In addition to paintings, the American patron also collected sculptures. In 1937, Guggenheim founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The foundation's fundamental task was to collect, preserve, interpret and present visual art and cultural objects from the 20th century. The collecting focused on so-called "non-objective" art, which differs from abstract art in its definition as a conception based exclusively on artistic intuition. In 1939, the foundation opened the "Museum of Non-Objective Art" in New York, where Solomon R. Guggenheim's collection was made accessible to the public. While the foundation's art objects were initially exhibited in an exhibition hall for old cars on East 54th in New York, plans emerged in 1943 to build the first Guggenheim Museum in New York. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright was hired to provide the design.
However, the museum building itself was only realized as an architectural work of art after controversial discussions between 1956 and 1959. In appearance it resembles a snail shell. It was opened posthumously in 1959. The basis for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was initially Solomon Guggenheim's collection. Other collections or individual works were later added as donations or purchases. Large collections, such as those of the masterpieces of impressionism, post-impressionism, early modernism by Justin and Hilde Thannhauser, German expressionism by Karl Nirendorf, paintings and sculptures of the historical avant-garde by Katherine Dreier, abstract style and surrealism by Peggy Guggenheim or the Minimal and Conceptual Art of Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo made the Guggenheim Museum the world's largest art temple.
Solomon R. Guggenheim died on November 3, 1949 in New York.
The Guggenheim Museum in Berlin opened in 1997. This reveals a special connection, especially since not only the Guggenheim family comes from Germany, but also the first director of the Guggenheim Museum, Hilla Rebauy. The Guggenheim Foundation owns numerous works by German artists. The following locations belong to the Guggenheim Foundation's museum empire: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin and the Hermitage Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas.
Works of art from the late 19th century and the avant-garde of the 20th century such as Paul Cezanne, Joseph Beuys, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Constantin Brancusi, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, Edgar Degas, Fernand Léger and Richard Serra are exhibited there. The Guggenheim Museum also maintains the largest collection of its kind in the world with over 200 paintings by Kandinsky.
Guggenheim acquired numerous important works by avant-garde artists from Europe such as Pieter Mondriaan, Pablo Picasso, László Moholy-Nagy and Robert Delaunay. In addition to paintings, the American patron also collected sculptures. In 1937, Guggenheim founded the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The foundation's fundamental task was to collect, preserve, interpret and present visual art and cultural objects from the 20th century. The collecting focused on so-called "non-objective" art, which differs from abstract art in its definition as a conception based exclusively on artistic intuition. In 1939, the foundation opened the "Museum of Non-Objective Art" in New York, where Solomon R. Guggenheim's collection was made accessible to the public. While the foundation's art objects were initially exhibited in an exhibition hall for old cars on East 54th in New York, plans emerged in 1943 to build the first Guggenheim Museum in New York. The architect Frank Lloyd Wright was hired to provide the design.
However, the museum building itself was only realized as an architectural work of art after controversial discussions between 1956 and 1959. In appearance it resembles a snail shell. It was opened posthumously in 1959. The basis for the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was initially Solomon Guggenheim's collection. Other collections or individual works were later added as donations or purchases. Large collections, such as those of the masterpieces of impressionism, post-impressionism, early modernism by Justin and Hilde Thannhauser, German expressionism by Karl Nirendorf, paintings and sculptures of the historical avant-garde by Katherine Dreier, abstract style and surrealism by Peggy Guggenheim or the Minimal and Conceptual Art of Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo made the Guggenheim Museum the world's largest art temple.
Solomon R. Guggenheim died on November 3, 1949 in New York.
The Guggenheim Museum in Berlin opened in 1997. This reveals a special connection, especially since not only the Guggenheim family comes from Germany, but also the first director of the Guggenheim Museum, Hilla Rebauy. The Guggenheim Foundation owns numerous works by German artists. The following locations belong to the Guggenheim Foundation's museum empire: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and the Guggenheim Museum SoHo in New York, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, the Deutsche Guggenheim Berlin and the Hermitage Guggenheim Museum in Las Vegas.
Works of art from the late 19th century and the avant-garde of the 20th century such as Paul Cezanne, Joseph Beuys, Robert Rauschenberg, Mark Rothko, Constantin Brancusi, Paul Klee, Alexander Calder, Edgar Degas, Fernand Léger and Richard Serra are exhibited there. The Guggenheim Museum also maintains the largest collection of its kind in the world with over 200 paintings by Kandinsky.
