SPAIN | Bilbao, Spain Travel Guide
Wednesday, November 27, 2024
Destinations Menu
Museo Guggenheim
Avda Abandoibarra 2,
Bilbao
Basque Country
Spain
94 435 90 00
Type: Museum
Addmission Fee: €8.40
Hours: Daily July-Aug. 9 am-9 pm; Sept.-June, Tues.-Sun. 10 am-8 pm
Comments ( 0 )
Rating (1 Votes)
Bilbao
Basque Country
Spain
94 435 90 00
Type: Museum
Addmission Fee: €8.40
Hours: Daily July-Aug. 9 am-9 pm; Sept.-June, Tues.-Sun. 10 am-8 pm
Comments ( 0 )
Rating (1 Votes)
The silver marvel on Bilbao’s riverbank is the brainchild of Frank O. Gehry, an American architect who had previously acquired a reputation as a brazen Los Angeles visionary for creating wild, whimsical and wholly unique spaces out of cheap materials like plywood and corrugated tin. The Guggenheim, with its billowing curves sheathed in an iridescent titanium shell and accented by limestone and high-density UVA-proof glass, was a bold step forward for both the architect and the city of Bilbao. Its undulating design, which incorporates the Ría (or estuary) Nervión and Puente de La Salve in one fluid composition, has been likened to an abstract sea-going vessel, has been criticized for overpowering the art inside, and has begun to tarnish long before it was expected to. Yet, should it turn the color of rust, admirers would likely laud the change as another step in an evolution the city is grateful to have experienced since the museum’s completion in 1997. To earn hosting rights for what would be the Guggenheim Foundation’s third major institution, Bilbao had to come up with 100 million US dollars and beat out Paris, London and many other cities with a historically richer artistic tradition.
A towering Puppy designed by Jeff Koons and covered with tens of thousands of brightly colored flower stands at the entrance to the museum. Through a breezy atrium you enter the building, with over 11,000 square meters (13,000 square yards) of exhibition space. There are 19 galleries over three levels, each connected by winding walkways and bathed in natural light, warranting almost as much attention as the art it complements. The overall experience is meant to be pro-active, interactive and varied, depending on which unorthodox space you find yourself admiring.
Speak into one end of Richard Serra’s Snake and your words will be carried over 100 feet to the other end of this undulating iron installation. Along with Jenny Holzer’s Installation for Bilbao, a tall wall with columns of pulsing LED lights meant to bridge the various levels of the museum, Snake is one of the few permanent works in the museum. The revolving exhibitions consist of the Guggenheim Foundation’s world-class collection of 20th-century avant-garde art, including works by Willem de Kooning, Vasily Kandinsky, Mark Rothko, Paul Klee and countless other contemporary masters. No less impressive is the representation of Spanish artists like of Dalí, Picasso, Eduardo Chillida, Antonio Tàpies and a number of young, up-and-coming Basque artists.
Temporary exhibitions, which have ranged from the evolution of motorcycles to the transparencies of light, are often held in the cavernous Gallery 104 that extends 130 m (426 feet) beneath the Puente de La Salve. Gehry’s touch even extended to the post-modern restaurant and ground-floor café. A gift shop and a well-stocked bookstore are dedicated to him and the artists whose avant-garde creations call into question cultural norms, inciting wonder and, in the case of a city like Bilbao, widespread change.
RSS
Explore the Destination
Amenities and Resources
Overview
Hotels(3)
Restaurants(10)
Attractions(7)
Activities(3)
Map 
Weather Forecast
- Reported on:
Wed, 11/27/2024 - 20:00
- Reported on:
Trending Themes:
Guides to Popular Ski Resorts
-
Ischgl is a small mountain village turned hip ski resort, with massive appeal among the party-hearty young crowds. It is... Read More
-
Andorra la Vella is its own little world, and not just because it’s a 290-square-mile independent principality (a fifth the... Read More
-
Bariloche (officially San Carlos de Bariloche) is the place to be seen. It is to Argentina what Aspen is to the... Read More
-
Aspen is America's most famous ski resort. And that's an understatement. For, as a ski complex, Aspen is unsurpassed. Its... Read More
-
Zermatt is a small but glamorous mountain resort town, with a population of approximately 5,700. It is one of Switzerland's... Read More
-
St. Moritz is a glitzy, alpine resort town in the celebrated Engadin Valley of Switzerland, with huge notoriety as the... Read More
-
Lake Tahoe is the premier lake resort of America, and the largest alpine lake in all of North America. It is an absolutely... Read More
-
St. Anton, Sankt Anton am Arlberg in German, is Austria's premier ski-bum resort! It's actually a small village cum... Read More
-
Kitzbühel, a small, Tyrolian resort town in the Kitzbüheler Alps, comes with international renown and huge snob appeal, and... Read More
