The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation was established in 1937.
The foundation was created to promote the appreciation and understanding of art and to support exhibitions, education, and collecting. It became the institutional framework behind the Guggenheim’s expanding museum activities in the United States and abroad.
Its formation followed Solomon R. Guggenheim’s interest in modern art and his association with artist and curator Hilla von Rebay. The foundation’s work initially centered on non-objective art, later developing into a broader modern and contemporary art program.
The foundation’s establishment predates the opening of New York’s purpose-built Guggenheim Museum by more than two decades. The Museum of Non-Objective Painting opened in 1939, while Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fifth Avenue building opened in 1959. These separate dates are often confused when tracing the institution’s history.