Solomon R. Guggenheim facts for kids

Solomon Robert Guggenheim (born February 2, 1861 – died November 3, 1949) was an American businessman. He was also a famous art collector. He is most known for starting the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City.

Guggenheim came from a rich family involved in mining. He started his own company, the Yukon Gold Company, in Alaska. He began collecting art in the 1890s. After World War I, he stopped working in business to focus on art. With help from artist Baroness Hilla von Rebay, he started collecting modern art. By the 1930s, he had a very important collection. He opened his first museum in 1939.

About Solomon Guggenheim

Early Life and Business

Solomon Guggenheim was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His parents were Meyer Guggenheim and Barbara Guggenheim. He had many brothers and sisters, including Simon Guggenheim, Benjamin Guggenheim, and Daniel Guggenheim. His family was of Swiss and Ashkenazi Jewish background.

He studied in Switzerland at the Concordia Institute in Zürich. After his studies, he came back to the United States. He worked in his family's mining business. Later, he started his own company, the Yukon Gold Company, in Alaska. In 1891, he helped improve a large Mexican metal company.

In 1895, he married Irene Rothschild. They had three daughters: Eleanor May, Gertrude, and Barbara.

Starting an Art Collection

Guggenheim started collecting art in the 1890s. At first, he collected works by old masters. In 1919, he stopped his business work to spend more time on art. In 1926, he met Baroness Hilla von Rebay. She became his art advisor.

In 1930, they visited the studio of artist Wassily Kandinsky in Germany. Guggenheim began to buy many of Kandinsky's paintings. That same year, he started showing his art collection to the public. He displayed it in his apartment at the Plaza Hotel in New York City. He also bought art from other famous artists like Rudolf Bauer, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger, and László Moholy-Nagy.

The Guggenheim Foundation and Museum

Creating a Home for Art

In 1937, Guggenheim created the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. The foundation's goal was to help people understand and enjoy modern art. In 1939, he and Baroness Rebay opened a place to show his collection. It was called the Museum of Non-Objective Painting. It was located at 24 East 54th Street.

Baroness Rebay helped Guggenheim choose important non-objective art pieces. These included Kandinsky's Composition 8 (1923) and Léger's Contrast of Forms (1913). They also collected Robert Delaunay's Simultaneous Windows (1912).

A New Building for the Collection

By the early 1940s, the museum had a very large collection of modern paintings. It became clear that they needed a bigger, permanent building. In 1943, Guggenheim and Rebay asked architect Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new museum.

In 1948, the collection grew even more. They bought about 730 art pieces from the estate of art dealer Karl Nierendorf. This included many German expressionist paintings. By then, the museum had a wide range of expressionist and surrealist works. These included paintings by Paul Klee, Oskar Kokoschka, and Joan Miró.

Solomon Guggenheim passed away in 1949 in Long Island, New York. In 1952, the museum was renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in his honor. The famous museum building in New York City opened on October 21, 1959.

His Lasting Impact

The Guggenheim Foundation continues to operate museums around the world. These include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao in Spain. It also runs the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice, Italy. This collection was started by Guggenheim's niece, Peggy Guggenheim.

See also

In Spanish: Solomon R. Guggenheim para niños