I travel with two things, my belly and my appetite for culture. Holidays for me are beasts of undertaking. A combination of my hunger for beautiful things, collecting experiences and event planning make it so. My trips need research, before during and after for me to feel that I’ve gotten the most out of my travels. I’ve decided I’m this blog that I’ll share my little travel guides every now and then, as a hyperactive artist’s guide to Europe.
First stop, Venice
Venetian style isn’t something I tend to think of when contemplating styles that resonate with me. I find appeal in lowbrow art. The majesty of Venetian design is a world away from my usual style. It’s a city of grandiose statements. Whether the array of paper mache masks or the collages of pillaged architecture. Big, bold and flaunted. My trip to Italy was most certainly guided by my belly more than my artistic notions.
However, for the past 8 years since I last visited the city I have continued to remember Venice as home to one of my favourite galleries in Europe. The Peggy Guggenheim collection. The gallery exhibits an impressive collection of art which belonged to its late namesake. Born into two power families of absaurd wealth and an insatiable passion for art, the American heiress collected pieces at a target rate of a painting a day. Peggy married artist Max Ernst and exhibited works in galleries in the beginnings of the careers of heavyweights including Rothko and Pollock.
The Peggy Guggenheim collection houses an impressive selection of work in an equally impressive location. Based on the Grand Canal the Galleries surround a courtyard garden peppered with statues. The garden itself an oasis on a floating island and the art within it displayed serenely. The building that houses the rest of the collection is literally an unfinished palace.
The Galleries indoors are split into two with the permanent collection in part and temporary exhibits in the other. The temporary exhibit when I visited was a Dadaist artist. The name escapes me but frankly wasn’t too far up my street anyway. It’s the permanent collection that I was there to see.
What a load of Pollocks
The most impressive modern art collection I have ever seen is treasured within its walls. Cubism, surrealism and expressionism paintings and sculptures from a sea of the movements biggest names. Dali, Magritte, Kandinsky, Chagall, Klee, Picasso, Miro and a room full of Pollocks are the first few that flow from my memory. The gallery opens onto a small yard of sculptures upon the Grand Canal itself. A perfect spot to steal a quiet second of beautiful views with a few less tourist around.
Have you ever seen a view like this from a gallery before?
Hop on the water bus two minutes from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection and after a transfer or two you can reach the island of Murano, famous for its glass. Through a sea of tourist trap glass shops the gem on the island is the glass museum. You can learn about the history of glass making on the island, and see some exquisite examples. My highlights were the glass octopus chandelier near the foyer and the incredibly detailed miniature cane pieces.
Although the museum gives you an insight into the process of how the pieces are made, it’s difficult to find anywhere that you can actually watch glass being blown. I’d recommend that you research this before you visit to ensure you have a plan if this is something that you want to do.
