Peggy Guggenheim (1898–1979), a leading patron of 20th-century artists and an avid collector, amassed the finest collection of art from the first half of the last century, including works by Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Constantin Brancusi, Joan Miró, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Alberto Giacometti, and Marcel Duchamp. In 1938, she opened her first modern art gallery in London, later opening the iconic Art of This Century gallery in New York. After a brief marriage to her third husband, artist Max Ernst, Guggenheim returned to Europe, settling in Venice, where she lived for the rest of her life, opening one of the most visited modern art museums in Italy today. At the Peak of the Century is an incredibly candid and rich account of the life of one of the most influential women in the art world.