The famous art collector Peggy Guggenheim opened her first gallery called Art from this Century on the seventh floor of this building. The gallery, which opened its door in the midst of World War II (1942), became the meeting place and exhibition space for exiled European artists. The opening show was a groundbreaking success, displaying works by established European Cubists and Surrealist artists. Most notably, the gallery is credited for launching the career of many American Abstract Expressionist artists such as Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko.