We Move Through Life in a Kind of Dream

If you have not watched the documentary Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict, you must. Peggy Guggenheim said, “We move through life in a kind of dream.” It’s a line that lingers with me. Life often feels fluid, elusive, and surreal. And like dreams, our experiences slip away unless we find ways to hold onto them.

For Peggy, that way was through art. She didn’t create art herself; she collected it. She recognized its power to shape the world, and in doing so, she shaped her own. Through the lives and works of artists, Peggy discovered meaning, identity, and purpose. Her life became a constellation of relationships, movements, and moments that might have otherwise vanished into history.

She made her home in Venice, transforming her palazzo on the Grand Canal into a place where memory lived in brushstrokes, sculptures, and radical ideas. She preserved what was fleeting, making it tangible and accessible for generations to come.

Watching her story, I related to that restless searching that comes with being in your twenties — the desire to find meaning by following cultural movements, to be in Europe, to trust your instincts, and to believe in the dreams of others as much as your own. Her story inspired me to craft my own vision and reminded me that building a life isn’t always about having a perfectly clear path. Her story inspired me to craft my own vision, to seek out places and people where memory lives — dove sta memoria — and to root my life in the spaces that hold meaning.