Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector

Before Peggy Guggenheim became one of the most famous collectors of modern art, before she made Venice her home, and before Palazzo Venier dei Leoni became one of the city’s most important museums, she opened a small gallery in London.

That gallery, Guggenheim Jeune, existed for only eighteen months. Yet during that remarkably brief period, between 1938 and 1939, Peggy organised more than twenty exhibitions, introduced British audiences to some of the most adventurous art of the time and began shaping the artistic vision that would define the rest of her life.

In this episode of Venice Talks, I speak with Gražina Subelytė, curator at the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, about the exhibition Peggy Guggenheim in London: The Making of a Collector.

Our conversation explores a fascinating and sometimes overlooked chapter of Peggy Guggenheim’s story: the moment before the legend was fully formed.

Peggy Guggenheim Before Venice

Today, Peggy Guggenheim is inseparable from Venice. We picture her at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni, surrounded by works by artists such as Picasso, Pollock, Kandinsky, Magritte and Max Ernst. We remember her distinctive glasses, her unconventional personality and her determination to live among the art she collected.

But when she arrived in London in the late 1930s, Peggy was still finding her direction.

She had no formal training in art history or museum studies. What she possessed instead was curiosity, independence, financial freedom and an instinct for surrounding herself with people who could challenge and educate her.

Figures such as Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett and Mary Reynolds played an important role in introducing Peggy to modern art. Duchamp, in particular, helped her understand the differences between artistic movements and guided her through the complex, rapidly changing European art world.

Peggy did not simply follow their advice, however. The London years reveal her gradually developing her own eye, her own confidence and her own understanding of what a collection—or even a museum—could become.

Guggenheim Jeune: A Small Gallery with Great Ambitions

Peggy opened Guggenheim Jeune in London in January 1938. The name was partly inspired by the prestigious French gallery Bernheim-Jeune, but the programme Peggy developed was entirely her own.

In only eighteen months, the gallery presented an extraordinary sequence of exhibitions. These included Kandinsky’s first solo exhibition in London, a Jean Cocteau exhibition and Britain’s first group show dedicated to collage.

The pace was ambitious, even relentless. It speaks not only to Peggy’s energy, but also to her hunger to learn. Each exhibition became part of her artistic education. She met artists, worked with advisers, studied new movements and observed how the public and critics responded.

At a time when much of the British cultural establishment remained cautious about abstraction and Surrealism, Guggenheim Jeune offered audiences something radically different.

The gallery promoted artists and ideas that challenged conventional definitions of beauty, representation and artistic value. It created a space where experimentation could enter public view—and sometimes provoke resistance.

Women Artists and New Opportunities

One of the important elements of this story is the presence of women artists within the programme of Guggenheim Jeune.

Artists including Eileen Agar, Barbara Hepworth, Rita Kernn-Larsen and Sophie Taeuber-Arp appear within the exhibition and help us consider Peggy’s role in offering visibility to women working in fields that remained heavily dominated by men.

Peggy’s relationship with women artists was not always simple, and her legacy should not be reduced to an uncomplicated narrative of support. Nevertheless, the exhibitions she organised gave several women opportunities to present innovative work to audiences who might otherwise have struggled to encounter it.

This makes the London chapter particularly valuable. It allows us to see Peggy not only as a collector of famous names, but as a gallerist operating within networks of artists, friendships, rivalries and changing cultural expectations.

The Exhibition That Challenged Sculpture

Among the most significant projects organised at Guggenheim Jeune was an exhibition devoted to contemporary sculpture.

The show challenged the traditional idea that sculpture should be monumental, figurative or created from conventional materials such as marble and bronze. Instead, visitors encountered experimental forms, unfamiliar materials and new relationships between objects and space.

For London audiences in the late 1930s, this was provocative. The exhibition raised questions about what sculpture could be and where the boundaries of art should lie.

It also demonstrated Peggy’s increasing willingness to present work that might confuse or unsettle visitors. She was learning that collecting modern art was not simply about acquiring beautiful objects. It was also about defending new ideas before they became widely accepted.

From a London Gallery to a Museum in Venice

While running Guggenheim Jeune, Peggy began imagining something larger: a museum of modern art.

Although the London gallery eventually closed, the dream continued. Peggy began making plans to acquire works systematically, famously resolving to buy a picture a day as Europe moved towards war.

The foundation of the collection now housed in Venice can therefore be traced, at least in part, to these London years. Guggenheim Jeune became a laboratory in which Peggy tested ideas, developed relationships and transformed herself from an enthusiastic beginner into a serious collector.

This is what makes the exhibition so compelling when presented at Palazzo Venier dei Leoni.

Visitors are standing inside Peggy’s former home, surrounded by the collection that became her life’s work, while looking back at the period when that vision was still uncertain and unfinished.

The exhibition creates a dialogue between beginning and destination, between the young gallerist experimenting in London and the legendary collector who ultimately chose Venice as her home.

In this episode of Venice Talks, curator Gražina Subelytė helps us understand that Peggy Guggenheim did not become an influential collector overnight. Her vision was created through encounters, mistakes, friendships, risks and an extraordinary willingness to learn.

Key Notes from This Episode

In this episode, we talk about:

• Gražina Subelytė’s journey into art history and curatorial work
• Peggy Guggenheim’s life before she became a celebrated collector
• The opening of Guggenheim Jeune in London in 1938
• Why the years 1938 and 1939 were crucial to Peggy’s development
• The influence of Marcel Duchamp, Samuel Beckett and Mary Reynolds
• Guggenheim Jeune’s programme of more than twenty exhibitions
• Kandinsky’s first solo exhibition in London
• Jean Cocteau and Britain’s first group exhibition devoted to collage
• The promotion of abstraction and Surrealism in conservative 1930s London
• Women artists including Eileen Agar, Barbara Hepworth, Rita Kernn-Larsen and Sophie Taeuber-Arp
• The gallery’s controversial contemporary sculpture exhibition
• Archival letters, photographs and documents connected to Peggy’s early career
• The origins of Peggy Guggenheim’s dream of creating a modern art museum
• The connection between her London gallery and the collection now housed in Venice

Listen to the full episode of Venice Talks and discover how a small London gallery helped create one of the most influential collectors of the twentieth century.

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