Venice 2016: Dorsoduro - Peggy Guggenheim, Ca'Rezzonico, Punta della Dogana

We deliberately scheduled a day with rain in the forecast for our first visit to Dorsoduro, since our itinerary included visiting a church, an art museum and a palazzo, all of which would put us indoors for large parts of the day.  One thing we have discovered in Venice has been that when it rains, it often pours.  Rich and I learned this the hard way on our first night in Venice, when we casually went for a stroll, bringing just one umbrella to share to ward off the threat of rain.  Caught in torrential rains, thunder and lightening, we had to duck under the awning of a closed shop to wait for the inclement weather to subside.  Having learned from this experience, we made sure that each of us had our own umbrella for our day trip to Dorsoduro.

Luckily the rain had subsided by the time we got off at the Salute Vaporetto station in Dorsoduro, although it was to return in full force several more times throughout the day.  This gave us the opportunity to take some photos of the exterior of the beautiful baroque Santa Maria della Salute Church and walk down the narrow eastern tip of Dorsoduro, with a view of the Grand Canal on one side and the Giudecca Canal and Giudecca Island on the other.

Completed in 1681 as one of the last "plague churches", Santa Maria della Salute Church was built as an offering to the Virgin Mary (also known as "Our Lady of Health" or "Salute" in Italian) in exchange for deliverance from the "Black Death".  Its impressively large dome with the sculpture of the Virgin Mary at the top could be seen from afar as we approached it by Vaporetto along the Grand Canal.  Inside, hung over the altar and various chapels are paintings by Titan and Tintoretto (who seem to have decorated most of the churches in Venice!).  Most impressive within this church is the elaborate golden papal throne of St. Pius X that is decorated with statues on both sides.

The main attraction to see in Dorsoduro is the Peggy Guggenheim Museum.  We prepared for this visit prior to arriving in Venice, by watching the documentary "Peggy Guggenheim - Art Addict" to learn more about this fascinating woman and the impressive art collection that she amassed.  Some of the points made by the movie included "Art was most important part of her life" and "Art mirrored her own strangeness".

Although born into the wealthy Guggenheim dynasty, Peggy Guggenheim inherited significantly less money compared to her cousins, since her father died prematurely in the sinking of the Titanic before he could grow his fortune. She still had enough money to be able to feed her passion for Modern Art, which she learned about from French-American artist Marcel Duchamp and was encouraged to pursue by close friend and lover Samuel Beckett.  She began buying and exhibiting works of Abstract Expressionism, Surrealism and Cubism from then up-and-coming artists who have since become household names, such as Wassily Kadinsky, Henry Moore, Alexander Calder, Raymond Duchamp-Villon and many more. Her buying sprees ramped up at the start of World War II as she tried to save as many works as possible, from artists including Pablo Picasso, Max Ernst (whom she was later briefly married to), Joan Miro, Man Ray, Salvador Dali, Paul Klee, and Marc Chagall, and saved many artists as well by helping them flee to the United States to escape Nazi persecution.  Peggy Guggenheim's list of friends and lovers (which in her autobiography, she claims to number over 1000) reads like a "Who's Who" of famous Bohemian writers and artists.

After several efforts at running art galleries in London, Paris and New York, Peggy finally moved to Venice and purchased the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni which became her home until her death, as well as the current location of her museum.  Built in the 1750s for the noble Venier family, the palace was owned by Contessa Luisa Casati (immortalized in a famous painting by Augustus John, owned by the Art Gallery of Ontario) between 1910-1924, before Peggy bought it in 1949.  The palazzo sits on the Grand Canal and has a magnificent terrace facing the water, where the iconic sculpture (Angel of the City, 1948) by Marino Marini of a "well-endowed" nude with outstretched arms sitting astride a horse guards the ornate gated entrance.  Alexander Calder's bright orange steel sculpture (The Cow, 1971) rests on the open portion of the terrace.  It is reputed that Peggy Guggenheim had her own private gondola that must have docked here.

The entrance by land is no less impressive as it leads directly into the Nasher Sculpture Garden, which provides a lush green backdrop for sculptures by artists such as Max Ernst (In the Streets of Athens, 1960), Henry Moore (Three Standing Figures, 1953), and Germaine  Richier (Tauromachie, 1953).  It appears that more pieces of art continue to be added to the garden after Peggy Guggenheim's death, including a sculpture (The Cloven Viscount, 1998) by Mimmo Paladino.  The garden also hosts exhibits on temporary loans including contemporary works of art, as does one of the wings of the museum.

Paintings and sculptures are displayed in the rooms throughout the museum.  It was especially interesting to view black and white photographs of Peggy Guggenheim from when she was still living in the palazzo.  Some of her old furniture still remains, and some of the art pieces are still situated in their original locations.  In other cases, rooms have been modified from how they appeared as Peggy's living spaces into configurations more conducive to an art museum.

 

While the Peggy Guggenheim collection contains works of familiar styles such as Picasso's Surrealist paintings, Marc Chagall's Jewish scenes with floating animals, or Salvador Dali's dreamscapes, what was more interesting to me was to see earlier works by artists who had not developed their iconic styles yet or by lesser known artists that I was not familiar with.  So it was fascinating to see a work by Jackson Pollack that did not involve his famous paint splatters, or to find out that he had a brother Charles Pollack that also painted abstract expressionist works as well.  I admired the blue glass sculptures by Egidio Constantini that were based on sketches by Picasso, especially when they were set on window sills against the background of the Grand Canal.  I also liked the earrings made for Peggy by Yves Tanguy, and the elaborate wire sculpture by Alexander Calder that Peggy hung above her bed.
 

A small room was dedicated to the art of Peggy's daughter Pegeen Vail, who died from an overdose at age 41 after battling depression all of her life.  Pegeen's art spanned two styles–surrealism and naïve art, known for its childlike simplicity and frankness.  Pegeen's death was just the latest tragic event endured by Peggy Guggenheim since losing her father in the Titanic sinking.  Her niece and nephew died under mysterious circumstances, one of her lovers died on the operating table during a routine operation and her various marriages all ended in divorce.  Despite all this, Peggy endured and left the world a lasting legacy in her art collection.

Peggy Guggenheim loved her art, her men, and her dogs, not necessarily in that order.  Throughout her life, she was photographed with one or more dogs at her side.  Guggenheim is buried in the Nasher garden and her beloved dogs are buried right next to her.  A plaque lists the names of 14 of her dogs, along with the dates of their births and deaths and the quote "Here lie my beloved babies".  It seemed a bit creepy that she named one of her dogs Pegeen, which was also the name of her daughter.

Ca'Rezzonico is another of the many palaces found along the Grand Canal.  Today, this beautiful Baroque palazzo is used as a public museum displaying 18th Century Venetian art, furnishings and artifacts collected from numerous other buildings and museums.  Frescoes by noted Italian artists of the time grace the ceilings of most of the rooms, as do luminous Murano chandeliers with intricate glass decorations of flowers and other ornaments.  I was particularly astonished when I saw some antique period furniture that had very similar shapes and decorations as the ones found in our home swap.  It made me feel like we were living in a modern version of a palazzo.

One room displayed decorative tables with such elaborate carvings that the pieces almost felt more like art than furnishings.  I was amused by the scenes depicted in a series of paintings in another room, which all seemed to share the common theme of a female figure inflicting pain or torture to a male figure. In a room full of pottery, I took note of a tea set that was decorated with playing cards and wondered if this was used during a bridge match.

The third floor of Ca'Rezzonico contained the private painting collection of Italian art critic and painter Egidio Martini, which include works spanning from the 15th Century through the 20th Century.  Maybe it was because I was tired and punchy by the time we saw these paintings, but somehow I found them to be extremely cheesy and humorous, especially the chubby cherubs prancing with a leopard, an armoured man who appears to be torturing his captive with tickling, and some air-borne cherubs who seem to be blowing bubbles on woman's bare butt.

Strolling along the Grand Canal, we watched the "Traghetto" ferry as it made its way back and forth across the stretch of water.  This is an inexpensive alternative to cross the canal and experience riding in a gondola.  Two men row a large gondola that fits what looks like 10 or more people, and at 2 Euro per person (for tourists, .70 Euro for residents), they will row you from one side of the canal to another.  I'm wondering about the safety of this ride though since the boat we watched seemed to almost tip as the numerous people shifted their weight as they tried to disembark.

Rich and I returned to Dorsoduro another day to spend more time exploring some of the many small art galleries found in the area.  I especially liked the wood sculptures by Loris Marazzi, who makes extremely realistic-looking carvings of coats, boots, shoes, umbrellas, hats and even underwear and bras.  There were some interesting paintings whose scenes are actually comprised of a bunch of numbers drawn very closely together.  In a black and white photograph, we saw proof that Venice does get snow, even though the canals don't seem to freeze over.   I intently inspected a framed painting of a bunch of people walking around, but the work had a depth and 3-D feel to it, since the people were painted both on the canvas and on the glass in front of it.

We also visited the Punta Della Dogana Contemporary Art Museum, which is a triangular-shaped former customs building situated at the eastern-most tip of Dorsoduro.  Unfortunately, we did not find the art to be very interesting.  It is sad to say that our favourite part of the museum was the building itself and the views of Giudecca that it provided, as opposed to the works that were on display.

 

I know that some contemporary art might be extremely minimalistic in terms of design, shape or colour.  But it was difficult to navigate through an entire museum filled with what I considered to be bland and boring works that did not spark any sense of excitement or whimsy.  Enormous rooms were mostly empty except for a few works hung on the wall that were entirely white or beige with hardly any discernible patterns on them.  Often the most colourful thing in the room was me!  Maybe we were just unlucky regarding which temporary exhibits were currently on display, but nothing here particularly interested me.

The closest thing to whimsical that we saw was an installation with an automatic-player piano and a series of fish sculptures that glowed in multiple colours as lights shone on them.  I'm not sure whether any message was attempting to be conveyed but at least it was bright and vibrant and musical.  Since I like sculptures, I did enjoy the marble robe with that simulated fabric with many folds, and the shiny metallic nude that was strategically positioned in front of a beautiful archway.

Prior to leaving Dorsoduro, we went to the hip and happening Campo Santa Margherita for one last cicheti lunch and of course, yet another Aperol Spritz.  At the Osteria Cicchetteria al Bocon DiVino, we had some trout mousse on toast, several skewers of breaded meats and potato, a battered version of the "Croque Monsieur", and some grilled squid and scallop.