sentences:  Peggy Guggenheim, Solomon's niece, collected and displayed art beginning in 1938.At Messer's urging, she donated her art collection and home in Venice, the "Palazzo Venier dei Leoni", to the foundation in 1976.After her death in 1979, the collection of more than 300 works was re-opened to the public as the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in 1980 by the foundation, which was then under the direction of Peter Lawson-Johnston.