Guggenheim Heirs Sue Foundation over Use of Venice Museum

French descendents of Peggy Guggenheim are suing the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, claiming it has violated donor intent in its management of a museum at the late art patron’s former Venice palace, reports The Art Newspaper.

The seven defendants are seeking to revoke Ms. Guggenheim’s 1979 bequest leaving the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni and her collection of Cubist, Surrealist, and abstract art to the foundation. They say the foundation has failed to comply with stipulations that the works remain on display and that subsequent acquisitions or loans of art be shown in an adjacent palace.

The heirs cite the move of some items into storage to make way for an exhibition of postwar and contemporary works bequeathed by two German collectors. The donors’ names are now inscribed at the museum’s entrances alongside that of Ms. Guggenheim.

The New York-based foundation said the heirs’ claims “have no merit,” citing a 1994 French court ruling it said held that “there were no such conditions” on Ms. Guggenheim’s gift. A hearing on the new case is scheduled for May 21 in Paris.