Visions of Modernity
November 15, 2012–February 17, 2013

Featuring works by Paul Cézanne, Robert Delaunay, Vasily Kandinsky, and Pablo Picasso, among others, this exhibition explores the intriguing parallels between a diverse group of art enthusiasts whose lives intersected over several decades: museum founders Solomon R. Guggenheim and Hilla Rebay, visionaries Katherine S. Dreier and Peggy Guggenheim, and eminent gallerists Karl Nierendorf and Justin K. Thannhauser. These six collectors brought some of the most significant artists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries to light. Over the years their personal compilations have been incorporated into one comprehensive array of avant-garde art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Their foresight and connoisseurship helped to define the scope of the Guggenheim’s holdings of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and modern art. Visions of Modernity is organized by Megan Fontanella, Assistant Curator, Collections and Provenance, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Deutsche Guggenheim Commissions are a continuation of the Guggenheim Foundation's commitment to fostering contemporary art and architecture. The 18 artists who have participated in the series to date—Paweł Althamer, John Baldessari, Hanne Darboven, Anish Kapoor, William Kentridge, Jeff Koons, Julie Mehretu, Gabriel Orozco, Gerhard Richter, James Rosenquist, Andreas Slominski, Agathe Snow, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Bill Viola, Jeff Wall, Phoebe Washburn, Lawrence Weiner, and Rachel Whiteread—comprise various nationalities, genders, and generations, and work in a diversity of media.