Peggy Guggenheim was addicted to art, sex and honesty

The story of Peggy Guggenheim was of a life less ordinary, writes Richard Fitzpatrick

THE number of artists’ lives Peggy Guggenheim had a part in is staggering. She gave Lucian Freud his first show in London. She was responsible for discovering and giving patronage to Jackson Pollock, which included a monthly $300 stipend and the loan to buy a house in Long Island away from the temptations of New York City.

Her art collection contains works by the likes of Salvador Dalí, Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. She hoovered up a large tranche of them in Paris in 1940 as the Nazis were laying siege to Europe, oblivious to her own personal safety as a Jew. Just as Adolf Hitler’s soldiers were about to march into the city, she had the works spirited to New York hidden amongst bedclothes and casserole dishes.