At the Palazzo Venier 
Nicholas Penny
- Peggy Guggenheim: The Life of an Art Addict by Anton Gill
Almost every North American museum of art today includes a gallery of modern and contemporary work, and little separates the colonial furniture, the Romantic waterfall and the careworn Rodin nude from the huge splashy hieroglyph, the bold candy-striped canvas, the colossal obese sunbather and the flashing neon message. Things are different in Europe, but contemporary artists are nonetheless frequently invited to perch on the tombs of the Old Masters, brandishing testimonials of long-standing devotion as evidence of the continuing ‘relevance’ of museums. Half a century or so ago, by contrast, avant-garde artists and their champions strove to present their work in separate spaces, to create museums of modern art.
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Other articles by this contributor:
Joining the Gang · Nicholas Penny defends Anthony Blunt
In Toledo, Ohio · Goltzius
At the Royal Scottish Academy · The Age of Titian
Journey to Arezzo · The Apotheosis of Piero
At the National Gallery · El Greco
At the Musée du Luxembourg · Botticelli
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