Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice

On our first trip down the Grand Canal Bill took this picture of the facade of Peggy Guggenheim's palazzo. Nicknamed "the Unfinished Palace", the 18th century building had originally been planned to be four stories high.

 It is now run by the Guggenheim Foundation and houses the collection she built during her lifetime as well as new acquisitions. 

 This Mario Marini Angel of the City, 1948, stands guard over the canal entrance. Marini provided a removable erection which the owner could add or remove depending on mood.

 Today we approach the museum through the garden around the back.

 A lovely green space.

We caught a tantalizing glimpse of the private patio that Guggenheim built on the roof of the unfinished palazzo.  It must have been a heavenly place to live!

 Guggenheim is buried in the garden next to the many dogs with whom she shared her life.

 A new acquisition in the garden -- Sol Lewitt's work never fails to amuse with its minimalist rigour. Incomplete Open Cube 6/8, 1974.

Another new acquisition: detail of a Jenny Holzer Garden Bench, 2001. 

This Kandinsky is the first painting we see as we enter the palazzo-museum. White Cross, 1922

This lovely Picasso also has pride of place near the entrance. Bust of a Man in a Stripped Shirt, 1939.

Leonara Carrington's Oink (They Shall Behold Thine Eyes), 1939. Guggenheim was a keen early collector of Surrealist art. 

 Amedeo Modigliani, Woman in a Sailor Shirt, 1916

Guggenheim collected a whole room of early Jackson Pollock paintings. 

The Moon Woman, 1942 

 William Baziotes' work was new to us. The Parachutists, 1944.

The Guggenheim trustees built a new wing on the property to house new acquisitions. Joan Mitchell, Composition, 1962

This Alberto Giacometti, Model for a Square, 1931-32, is also newly acquired.

This small John Chamberlain sculpture is about the size of a tin of tobacco. Small Piece no. 1, 1961.

As we exit past the Byzantine marble throne of the self-confessed art addict

we pay tribute to the courage of one the last century's most individual aesthetic sensibilities.

Her spirit continues to hover over her Venetian home. Her famous glasses frames are now available in the gift shop. File them under: I Could Wear That.