The renovated Museum Café of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice welcomes the visitors of the museum inside the veranda looking out onto the museum gardens and the palazzo that was Peggy Guggenheim’s home for 30 years, and that was transformed, according to her wishes, into one of the most precious venues dedicated to 20th century art.

Hangar Design Group (HDG) conceived, designed and followed the realization of the refurbishment of the café. The goal was to create a relaxing, contemporary space within the museum, all in keeping with and in memory of Peggy’s spirit. The focus was on natural light, illuminating the café via the garden and emphasized by a simple, soft and linear design. Against the white backdrop of the walls, the furnishing by Arclinea amplify the luminous, light space.
At the center of the café is the “Peggy” chandelier, designed for this space by Hangar Design Group and created by Vistosi. The perfect balance of the chandelier, around its double axis, is created by a series of blown glass and metal spheres that speak of a modernist approach to space—where light is the focal point—and provide a rational and elegant approach to interpret the black and white polarity.
Large photographic portraits of Peggy Guggenheim hung on the walls, thus offering visitors an intimate perspective of the great collector’s life and home, where she lived from 1948 until her death in 1979. These photographs are a tribute to Peggy Guggenheim’s charisma and to her influence on the history of 20th century art.

Important contributions to the Peggy Guggenheim Café were also made by Mapei and Hausbrandt., together with Arclinea and Hangar Design Group, part of Intrapresæ Collezione Guggenheim, a group of companies that supported the programs of the Peggy Guggenheim Collection over the years.
Text by Gabriele Masi.