The Architecture

Photos of this building show a spectacular and unique grouping of forms, which somehow create the unexpected and visually moving symphony of an architectural masterpiece.

However, it is only when one is physically present, viewing the exterior from all angles and perspectives, and then walking into the interior space, does one fully realize the incredible beauty and sculptural elegance of this piece of modern architecture.

It was on my annual visit to Western Europe that I had the privilege of seeing the Guggenheim Bilbao first hand.

It is breathtaking.

Throughout my life, I have been a student of architecture and have followed the design and construction of the great buildings of our time. My assumption was that the Frank O. Gehry design would be another one of the 20th Century’s most noted avant-garde buildings.

I was so wrong.

The Art

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is part of the Guggenheim institutions, which includes the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York and the Peggy Guggenheim Collection in Venice.

Each collection consists of diverse selections and perspectives of modern and contemporary works.

Jeff Koons, one of America’s foremost, most prolific and sometimes outrageous artists, commands one of the exterior public terraces with Puppy.

Some of the artists represented in the collection are Willem de Kooning, Robert Motherwell, Gerhard Richter, James Rosenquist, Clyfford Still, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol. Also included are major acquisitions by Robert Rauschenberg and Mark Rothko.