Guggenheim, one of the art world’s most colorful characters, had a bohemian flair and remarkable eye for the emerging avant-garde artist. Among those she championed were Jackson Pollock, Max Ernst (whom she briefly married), Georges Braque, and Wassily Kandinsky. Reported to have as many lovers as she did works of art, Guggenheim led a whirlwind life that took her from New York to London, Paris and Venice where she eventually settled. Venice’s Peggy Guggenheim Museum now houses her extraordinary art collection.Peggy was the child of two prominent Jewish German immigrant families, the Seligmans and the Guggenheims. The Seligmans made their fortune in banking. While the Guggenheim name today is mostly remembered for the eponymous museum founded by Peggy’s uncle Solomon, the family fortune was made in mining. Peggy’s father died aboard the Titanic when she was only 13, leaving her an inheritance that later helped fund her prodigious appetite for art.

Guggenheim’s first exposure to the bohemian world came working as a clerk in a Manhattan bookstore. But she quickly decided to spread her wings and left for Europe two years later where her collecting and exhibiting of newer artists began. Her impeccable eye, with some guidance, resulted in her amassing one of the most important collections in the modern art world. Her ability to select enduring works of art, though, did not translate to enduring marriage. She was married twice.

A live Skype interview with Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland and conducted by Joanne Lefrak follows the screening.