The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao

On Tuesday, September 20^th, our film group all took a tour bus to Bilbao to visit the world famous Guggenheim Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art designed by American architect Frank O. Gehry.  It definitely lived up to its reputation.  Many of us referred to it as a work of art in its own right – namely sculpture.   While the outside form is spectacular with it flowing shapes combining iron, stone and glass with titanium plate coverings that have been curved every which way, the inside is also amazing for it spaces where art is displayed, its high, dramatic ceilings in the central area and its use of expansive windows and light.  He is clearly an inspired architect with his own vision that some call “genius.”

Our pictures of both the outside and inside of the museum give you only a limited sense of its grandeur, but nevertheless, it was what was possible with our small digital camera and nearby vantage points.  The site is located along a river that runs through Bilbao. This area was originally an active port with warehousing and industrial buildings.  It has since gone through an economic development renaissance and has been transformed into a modern downtown with offices and retail on one side of the river and high density housing on the other.  The Guggenheim has also acted as a catalyst for this transformation.

The site for the museum is unusual in that part of the museum is actually constructed so that it goes under a bridge that spans the site.  In the front of the museum is an approximately 35 foot topiary that is called the “Puppy,” because of its doglike shape.  It was designed by Jeff Koons and stands as a nice contrast to the ultra modern museum designed by Gehry.