Solomon R. Guggenheim

Solomon Guggenheim, of the mining family, began collecting abstract art in the late 1920s under the guidance of the artist Hilla Rebay, and set up a foundation in 1937 to show it publicly, first in a rented space. The spiral Frank Lloyd Wright building on Fifth Avenue opened in 1959, after his death. The foundation now runs museums in New York, Venice and Bilbao, with Abu Dhabi due to open in December 2026 after two decades of delays; admission is charged.