Complex sentence: He managed to sell a few painting which enabled him to travel Northern European country and Italy were he spend some time especially in Venice where he met and photographed Peggy Guggenheim in her foundations, only shortly before she died in 1979.
Split into simpler sentences: He managed to sell a few painting which enabled him to travel Northern European countries and Italy where he spend some time, especially in Venice. There he met and photographed Peggy Guggenheim in her foundations, only shortly before she died in 1979.