THE GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM ON THE NERVION RIVERSIDE

Today, Claire Fontaine  and The Grandma have visited the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, an amazing trip along contemporary art.

 

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum of modern and contemporary art designed by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry, and located in Bilbao, province of Biscay.

 

The museum was inaugurated on 18 October 1997 with an exhibition of 250 contemporary works of art. Built alongside the Nervion River, which runs through the city of Bilbao to the Cantabrian Sea, it is one of several museums belonging to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and features permanent and visiting exhibits of local and international artists.

A work of contemporary architecture, the building has been hailed as a signal moment in the architectural culture, because it represents one of those rare moments when critics, academics, and the general public were all completely united about something, according to architectural critic Paul Goldberger. The museum was the building most frequently named as one of the most important works completed since 1980 in the 2010 World Architecture Survey among architecture experts.

In 1991, the Basque government suggested to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation that it would fund a Guggenheim museum to be built in Bilbao's decrepit port area, once the city's main source of income. The Basque government agreed to cover the US$100 million construction cost, to create a US$50 million acquisitions fund, to pay a one-time US$20 million fee to the Guggenheim and to subsidize the museum's US$12 million annual budget. In exchange, the foundation agreed to manage the institution, rotate parts of its permanent collection through the Bilbao museum and organize temporary exhibitions.

The museum was built by Ferrovial, at a cost of US$89 million. About 5,000 residents of Bilbao attended a preopening extravaganza outside the museum on the night preceding the official opening, featuring an outdoor light show and concerts.

In 2008, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao announced that it was looking into building a 5,000 m2 expansion in Urdaibai, an estuary to the east of Bilbao. By 2022, the government of the Biscay province presented plans to put 40 million euros toward the expansion.

The museum was opened as part of a revitalization effort for the city of Bilbao. Almost immediately after its opening, the Guggenheim Bilbao became a popular tourist attraction, drawing visitors from around the globe. In its first three years, almost 4 million tourists visited the museum, helping to generate about €500 million in economic activity. The regional council estimated that the money visitors spent on hotels, restaurants, shops and transport allowed it to collect €100 million in taxes, which more than paid for the building cost.

More information: Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

To get such beauty from something
that has been produced from the artist's
own imagination appealed to me enormously.

Solomon R. Guggenheim