Hilla von Rebay (1890-1967) was born to an aristocratic German family in Strasbourg, then Germany. She pursued her passion for art and studied in art schools in Cologne and Paris, mastering traditional training in landscape, portraiture, genre, and history painting. After graduating, her interests turned to modern non-representational art, and she became an abstract artist, exhibiting her work in Europe. In 1927, she relocated to New York City, establishing herself as an artist and art collector. She became the friend and advisor of Solomon R. Guggenheim, encouraging and guiding him in purchasing non-objective art. When the collection grew, Guggenheim started to present it in 1939 in a small showroom bearing the name the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation’s Museum of Non-Objective Painting, with Rebay serving as its director and curator. In 1943, she reached out and worked with the architect Frank Lloyd Wright on the design of the current building of the Guggenheim Museum, which is one of NYC’s icons and a symbol of modern art on its own. Following Guggenheim’s death in 1949, the family fired Rebay from all her roles. When the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum opened in 1959, she wasn’t invited and never visited. She passed away in 1967. She requested to be buried in her family grave in Teningen, Germany, and donated a large part of her art collection to the Guggenheim, presented as the Hilla Rebay Collection. In 1919, her parents bought a house in Teningen; when they passed away in the early 1930s, Rebay donated it to the community, asking that it be used for good. In 1999, a group of middle schoolers in Teningen learned about Rebay’s legacy. They organized an exhibition about her that was displayed in the town hall. In 2003, the display was moved to Rebay’s house. Founded in 2012, the Hilla von Rebay Association oversaw the house renovations and has managed the museum and the collection. On display are plaques with information about the life and work of Hilla Rebay, photos, art pieces she created, and art from her collection, including several loans from the Guggenheim Museum in NYC. Read more...