Guggenheim Museum

The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao is one of the branches of the Solomon Guggenheim Museum of Modern Art. The unique building of the institution was designed by American-Canadian architect Frank Gehry. The architectural style is deconstructivism, the main features of which are the bizarre intersection of shapes and curved surfaces.

Description

The grandiose building of the Guggenheim Museum represents the embodiment of the architectural and artistic flight of the master's imagination. The exterior of the stunning structure has been compared to an alien ship, a budding rosebud, and even called the architectural reincarnation of Marilyn Monroe.

The previous works of the great architect did not leave anyone indifferent. Among the most famous are the Dancing House in Prague, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and the Museum of Pop Culture in Seattle. The author himself based the project on the image of a wrecked ship, reassembled.

The Guggenheim Museum stands on the embankment of the river Nervyon, where the commercial port used to be. The height of the central atrium is 55 m. Inside there are 10 halls with right angles and 9 rooms with the most bizarre geometric shapes of walls, ceilings and even floors.

While working on the project, Gehry used the latest computer programs designed for the aerospace industry to calculate the stability of the most complex structure as accurately as possible. The outer shell of the building consists of 33 thousand thinnest and high-strength titanium sheets. The building plays with numerous color schemes, reflecting the light, the movement of clouds and the water surface of the river.

The Guggenheim Museum was opened in 1997. Its area is 24 thousand square meters. m. 11 thousand of them are occupied by the halls of expositions. Almost 1 million visitors visit the museum every year.

History of creation

The city of Bilbao is the most common industrial city, which was seriously damaged during the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century, and especially in 1936, when it was bombed by Franco's troops. The city was rebuilt, but it gradually fell into economic decline. It was necessary to breathe new life into it. It was decided to do this by attracting tourists. The municipality of the city turned to the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation, which is already known all over the world. Since 1988, the Foundation has been led by T. Krenz, one of the most successful and talented museum organizers. At that time, the Foundation was just looking for a suitable city to continue expanding the museum network in Europe. Krenz simply told architect Gehry that it was necessary to create a museum that had no analogues.

Together they arrived in Bilbao, introduced the city authorities to the project and started working. The municipality has taken over all the construction costs. It took a little over three years to implement the ambitious project.

This is how the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao appeared - either a giant biblical fish covered with magical iridescent scales, or an amazing ship moving rapidly into the harbor.

In the first 3 years of operation, the museum was visited by 4 million tourists and brought almost 500 million euros to the city's treasury, more than recouping all construction costs.

Expositions

The interior of the museum harmoniously combines with the exhibits of contemporary art exhibitions. The permanent exhibition of the museum is the exposition "The Matter of Time" made of super-strong steel, the author of which is the American R. Serra. The composition occupies the largest hall. At the entrance, visitors are greeted by a huge puppy Puppy, the symbol of the city depicted on the coat of arms. The puppy is made of flowers. It is interesting to see the spider Maman, giant tulips.

The Guggenheim Museum's exhibitions are based on sculptural video installations and electronic works. There are also traditional paintings and sculptures, but most of them are works in the style of avant-garde and abstraction.

The Guggenheim Museum often hosts themed exhibitions about different countries and their cultures.

The writer D. Brown wrote a fascinating novel "Origin", where the characters get into incredible adventures in the museum.