Let’s stART again. After 86 days of lockdown, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection reopens the doors of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni on June 2.
Admission is free of charge on June 2; advance booking required.
The success of a museum doesn’t depend on the number of visitors but on the number of visitors to whom it teaches something.Georges-Henri Rivière, museologo.
On Tuesday June 2, the day Italy celebrates its Festa della Repubblica, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection opens its doors to the public with free admission from 10 am to 6 pm. Following 86 days of closure since March 8, this is a gift to returning and first-time visitors who wish to experience the unique atmosphere that was Peggy Guggenheim’s home for thirty years and her unrivaled modern art collection. The Collection reopens to welcome visitors in the rooms of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni and in its garden, the green heart of the Venetian museum, now in full bloom. On June 2, entrance will be on a timed quota basis from 10 am to 6 pm, and must be booked in advance (from May 22 to June 1, by 2 pm). For information, please consult the website guggenheim-venice.it.
It will be a new chapter for the Collection, offering visitors a more intimate and reflective experience in a welcoming and perhaps even quieter place. This will allow visitors to listen to the art and connect with works such as the surreal magic of René Magritte’s Empire of Light or the absolute mystery of Jackson Pollock’s Alchemy. Others may choose a moment of contemplation in the stillness of the sculpture garden sitting next to Standing Woman by Alberto Giacometti. We invite you to participate in this special moment.
During the month of June, the museum will reopen its doors on Saturdays and Sundays from 10 am to 6 pm. The permanent collection will be open to the public, while the temporary exhibition Migrating Objects: Arts of Africa, Oceania, and the Americas from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection remains closed in the hope of opening it again soon. Additionally, due to the lockdown imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the museum had to cancel the summer exhibition dedicated to the Brazilian artist Lygia Clark, which was scheduled to come from the Guggenheim Bilbao. It will be possible to view it in Bilbao from June 1, when the Basque museum re-opens.
Access will be limited and the public and staff will follow new safety rules that conform to the highest international museum standards and allow for welcoming visitors into the museum again. Entrance will be on a timed quota basis. Purchasing tickets online is recommended and reservations can be made from June 1 directly on the museum website. Visitors may purchase tickets at the entrance desk of the museum, although payment is restricted to credit or debit cards. Members and visitors who are granted free entrance may reserve via email at prenotazioni@guggenheim-venice.it or by calling +39 041 2405440 (Mondays to Fridays from 10 am to 3 pm). The request should include the day and preferred time of arrival and the museum will follow-up with a confirmation. The use of a face mask is mandatory for both visitors and museum staff, an interpersonal distance of at least 1 meter is also mandatory; visitors will follow a one-way itinerary; the museum spaces will undergo constant sanitizing; hand-sanitizing disinfectant gel dispensers will be available in several locations in the museum; signage and museum personnel will enforce the rules. The Museum Shop located a few paces before the museum entrance will be open and will follow the rules described above while the Museum Café will remain closed during this first phase. At the moment it is not possible to accept group bookings and guided tours, nor will it be possible to use audio guides.
“During this suspended time, art and culture have played a fundamentally soothing role and today it is our duty to carry on our mission to educate and inspire as we finally reopen the doors of the museum, despite many unknowns that await us in the coming months,” affirms director Karole P. B. Vail. “In order to ensure the economic sustainability of the museum, together with my staff, we shall be in the galleries ready to greet our visitors. I think this is a beautiful exercise in resistance and cultural resilience. For this I am particularly grateful to my team for having given their full availability during the weekends. We have always believed in the transformative and therapeutic power of art which consoles and gives strength in even the worst moments. As such, during the 86 days the museum remained closed, we have never stopped communicating with our public by filling the physical distance with activities on our website and social media channels. We reopen so that the museum will become, today more than ever, a place where our community recognizes itself through trust and dialogue. The visit will not be any less appealing, on the contrary! Rather, it will be an opportunity to linger quietly with the masterpieces of the collection, dedicate time to take in and appreciate the works of art, while savoring even more the special intimacy of our museum. We are also keenly aware of the difficulties ahead as we face enormous losses due to this very long forced closure. We are confident to rise again thanks to the affection and support of our community, our “Amici” and supporters of the museum. We are also grateful to the Venetians and our friends in the Veneto whom we welcome first, in addition to the Italian and international public who have remained close during this lockdown period with emails and messages of solidarity to the Peggy Guggenheim Collection.”
We look forward to seeing you here and await your visit in Peggy Guggenheim's home, in a Venice like you’ve never seen before.