Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict!

“Peggy Guggenheim systematically spirited her now-priceless art collection out of occupied Paris, before the Nazis could destroy what they deemed “degenerate” art – works by the likes of Kandinsky, Chagall, Brancusi and Picasso. History has been kinder to the modern art movement than it has been to its pre-eminent patron.

“With Art Addict, director Lisa Immordino Vreeland makes a case for Guggenheim’s role as a serious collector, particularly since her prophetic, intuitive vision has either been overshadowed by her flamboyant personal life. The chronological focus is on her rebellious curiosity from a young age, her cultural awakening and eight-year collection process of European and American abstract, cubist and surrealist art in combination, and finally, her museum strategy.

“There are entertaining and ribald stories along the way and a treat of rare archival footage of many artists, works and ephemera. Plus, art-world boldface such as Marina Abramovic and Larry Gagosian weigh in, as does long-time friend and art historian Sir John Richardson and even Robert De Niro, of whose artist parents Guggenheim was an early champion. The patron speaks for herself, too, answering questions from beyond the grave via another biographer’s previously unreleased interview tapes (from 1979, the year she died at the age of 81). All seem in agreement that the combination of wealth and gender worked against her; she was simultaneously dismissed as a dilettante and slut-shamed for merely being as sexually liberated as the men of the era. By her own legendary admission, Guggenheim had thousands of lovers and pursued art and sex in equal measure; this documentary goes a way to rebalancing that the addiction of the title actually took precedence.” - Globe & Mail