Peggy Guggenheim, a key figure of 20th century culture, was born on August 26 1898. Patroness, collector and friend of artists, Peggy traversed her century as a promoter and tenacious supporter of major movements of modern art, from Cubism to abstraction, from Surrealism to American Abstract Expressionism. Observing tradition, the Peggy Guggenheim Collection will celebrate Peggy's birthday with a concert on Thursday August 26 at 9pm; this year's virtuoso is the flautist Mario Caroli, who will perform a program titled Palingenesi sonore, conceived both as a homage to Peggy and as a tribute to the thirtieth anniversary of her museum in Venice since it opened for the first time under the auspices of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in the spring of 1980. The concert is reserved for the ‘Friends' (members) of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, and seating is limited. For further information: membership@guggenheim-venice.it; tel. 041.2405.440/412. The museum will open its doors from 8.30pm, but will close them once the concert has begun.

For the occasion, the museum is launching the project ‘A Gift for Peggy': a fund raising campaign to enable the purchase of two pairs of earrings that once belonged to Peggy and which were created for her by Yves Tanguy and by Alexander Calder. Peggy wore one each of these on October 20 1942 at the inauguration of her historic New York museum-gallery Art of This Century: to declare her impartiality between Surrealist and abstract art. While Peggy was an enthusiastic collector of earrings, these pairs in particular have acquired almost iconic status, symbolizing her support of two distinct avant-gardes. Our goal is to re-unite them with the museum and collection that bear her name. They are small and beautiful works of modern art, but also an important part of Peggy's history.

The Peggy Guggenheim would like to share with all those who admire Peggy the invitation to contribute to this project, which we consider our birthday gift to her, in thanks for the collection she made, for her contribution to the history of 20th century art, and for her giving her museum to the city of Venice. For further information:

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In

the garden of Palazzo Venier dei Leoni Mario Caroli will perform music from four centuries-by Marin Marais, Georg Philipp Telemann, Claude Debussy and, most contemporary of these, Ivan Fedele. The concert will be preceded by a viewing of a television documentary, Peggy Guggenheim directed by Francesca Molteni (2009, 27'), a production of 3D. Find attached the program.

Many Happy Returns to Peggy!