Out of This Century The Informal Memoirs of Peggy Guggenheim by Peggy Guggenheim

Step into the glittering, bohemian world of one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating art patrons. Peggy Guggenheim’s intimate memoirs offer an unvarnished, insider’s view of the birth of modern art—told by the woman who helped shape it.

This 2015 reprint preserves the candid spirit of the 1946 original, capturing Guggenheim at her most revealing. Here is a woman who moved through the avant-garde circles of Europe and America with equal parts passion and audacity, collecting not just masterpieces but experiences. Her accounts of encounters with artists like Max Ernst, Jackson Pollock, and Marcel Duchamp are deliciously frank—sometimes surprising, always illuminating.

But this is more than an art history document. Guggenheim writes with disarming honesty about her eccentric, wealthy family, her unconventional relationships, and the gilded-age world she both inhabited and rebelled against. The pages crackle with the energy of someone who lived fully and refused to apologize for it.

Whether you’re drawn to art history, biographical memoir, or simply a well-told story of a remarkable life, these memoirs deliver. Guggenheim’s voice remains fresh decades later—sharp, witty, and utterly herself. This is the kind of book you’ll find yourself quoting at dinner parties, the kind that makes you see museum galleries differently.

A valuable primary source for scholars and an entertaining read for anyone curious about the personalities behind the paintings that changed modern art forever.

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