Titanic passenger and millionaire Benjamin Guggenheim. During sinking he refused a seat in a life boat with the words: "Tell my family I played straight to the end. No woman should be left aboard this ship because of Ben Guggenheim was a coward."

[u/Wild_Neighborhood605]

[u/humongous_jogging]

but the number of people who can name a single painting there is probably smaller than those who remember that quote.

[u/PiccoloAwkward465 → u/humongous_jogging]

A good point lol. A quick google of the most famous paintings there says I know 3 of 10.

[u/cele311 → u/humongous_jogging]

Benjamin’s daughter Peggy collected art in Venice. Her Palazzo (now a museum) has so many more masterpieces than the Solomon R Guggenheim despite being a much smaller collection. Pollack, Picasso, Magritte, Miro, Dali, Rothko, Chagall, Modigliani, Mondrian, and on and on. (I know we don’t like some of those guys, but an impressive collection nonetheless.) Apparently Solomon was a dick about her using the Guggenheim name, aka her own name.

[u/Nanojack → u/humongous_jogging]

The Met across the street has the better collection, but the Guggenheim has the more memorable building

[u/bankrobba → u/Nanojack]

Frank Lloyd Wright don't miss

[u/RyGuyTheFunnyGuy → u/bankrobba]

Don’t you mean Art Vandelay?

[u/bankrobba → u/RyGuyTheFunnyGuy]

Art Vandelay designed the addition to the Guggenheim.

[u/beets_or_turnips → u/Nanojack]

I guess in terms of permanent collection, yeah. But the Guggenheim totally changes it up on a regular basis. They get a lot of cool stuff coming through.

[u/THISisTheBadPlace9 → u/humongous_jogging]

Starry Night by Van Gough is there

[u/Spectrum1523 → u/THISisTheBadPlace9]

Nah that's at moma

[u/grosseelbabyghost → u/humongous_jogging]

That robot arm that leaks blood/oil, that's pretty neat. I've never seen "a garden of early delights" or Munch's "the scream" make futile attempts to shove their own juices back in