Inspiring us right now: this image of Peggy Guggenheim in Venice in 1950, possibly during the Venice Biennale that year. The American heiress and preeminent art collector sits atop the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni a year after resettling in the City of Masks from New York.

A bohemian through and through, Guggenheim was friends with the likes of Pablo Picasso and Man Ray, and could often be found cavorting with  surrealists and abstract artists who bummed around the Montparnasse district of Paris before their acceptance into the canon of Western art.

A true eccentric who didn’t take her wealth as seriously as her relatives did, Peggy Guggenheim also had unusual taste in eyewear; she’s said to have owned over 100 sunglasses. This prickly pair was custom-made for her by the sculptor Edward Malcarth and later reproduced by Safilo for the Guggenheim store.

Thanks to Eye Respect for the image.