Guggenheim Visionary Collectors Modern Collections of Modern Masters-The Best of the Best

The Guggenheim houses an elite & priceless collection of art by the most influential & creative artists from the late 19th to the mid 20th C.  The current show "Visionaries Creating a Modern Guggenheim" represents the highlights of art donated to the Guggenheim by 4 industrious & groundbreaking collectors:  Peggy Guggenheim, Solomon Guggenheim, Hills Rebay (also an art advisor to Solomon) and Justin Thannhauser.  The artworks are splendiferous; a bounty of treasures miraculous to behold altogether in one place.  While its a feast for the eye, it is interesting to note the commonalities amongst the collectors & their collections.  They all more or less possessed works by the same elite artists: Picasso, Kandinsky, Cezanne, Calder, Monet, Mondrian, Van Gogh, Brancusi, de Koonig and Pollack to name but a smattering.  This is a consummate show highlighting the creme de la creme from the Guggenheim's permanent collection.  I was dizzy with awe as I spiraled my way through the Museum.  Still, I discerned some similarities between the artists.   The influences they made on each other's work is fascinating.  In particular, the collection illustrated a pronounced & surprising connection between the paintings of  Cezanne & Van Gogh,  Picasso & Toulouse-Lautrec, Seurat & Manet.  There was a plethora of Kandinsky & Picasso paintings.  Parallels maybe drawn between works by Calder, Kandinsky & Mondrian.  Picasso's evolving styles were exciting to assess.  Note Picasso's "Profile of woman with Chignon" (1904) with the iconic "Woman with Yellow Hair" (1931.)   A gallery containing Brancusi's sculptures included large, carved totemic figures & smooth, elegant marble forms.  Man Ray's photos in this gallery show the artist & his studio.  I was especially taken by the nylon filaments sculptures by Naum Gabo which have an elusive, kinetic energy.  The exhibit winds up with Duchamp's "Sad Young Man on a Train," and culminates fittingly with Pollacks' "Alchemy," (1947.)  The 4 major collectors' from whom the works are culled shared a propensity for donating the majority of their works posthumously.  Needless, the collectors preserved a largess of significant works during tumultuous decades and are generously & gratefully available to a vast public.