Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict – 6

It would be hard to make a dull movie about Peggy Guggenheim’s life, what with her eccentric family, love affairs with artists and, finally, her world-class museum of Surrealist and Abstract Expressionist art in beautiful Venice, but this effort teetered. It started with the worst opening credits I have ever sat through, spread out over what seemed like ten minutes of film. Then the director added annoying graphics – every line swooped onto the screen and interviewee names rolled up, distractingly. The choice of interviewees was occasionally bizarre, and the later ones added nothing to what we’d been told long ago. Worst was the use of phony archival footage: we were never told which clips were actual footage of events in Peggy’s life; which were of a similar scene; and which, like the Titanic sinking, were taken from old movie recreations. The art, however, was wonderful, and seeing how one person of limited means and looks made herself central to at least two great art movements of the century was fascinating.