The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is an architectural masterpiece. Let me tell you a bit more about it and show you how gorgeous it is.

Note: This post includes affiliated links. If you decide to purchase one of the books listed or book a room via Booking, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

You’ve seen pictures of it before. (If you haven’t just scroll down, I got you covered!)

You may even have seen it in movies, like the James Bond movie The World is not enough or in Jupiter ascending.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is glorious. It is one of those modern design that contrast so much with their environment, they become a masterpiece and almost miraculously integrate themselves.

No matter how many pictures you’ve seen, you need to see it for yourself. You’ll be blown away!

So let me give you a bit of background info before you book your ticket to Bilbao.

Frank O. Gehry, the architect

Gehry was born between the 2 WW in Canada. When just a young boy, he would build little cities, out of scrap wood, with his grand-mother. Later, he remembered his love for museum, art and music so very logically he became an architect and went on to design and build the most famous museums and concert halls in the World!

A lot of the buildings he designed are world-renowned attractions. Gehry is one of the most famous contemporary architect, in the world.

Amongst others, he designed the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles which looks a bit similar to the Bilbao museum from the outside. The Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris, the Dancing House in Prague, the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto… Gehry is a prolific architect! He has done a lot of other types of buildings, like office towers and not all his creations are as crazy as the ones listed above.

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation

You already know that there are several Guggenheim museum in the World. The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is behind all of those. It was created in 1937 by the philanthropist Solomon R. Guggenheim to promote modern and contemporary art.

The first and most famous Guggenheim museum is the one in New York (designed by Frank Lloyd Wright). The most beautiful one is the one in Bilbao!

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation encouraged Frank Gehry to design a daring & innovative museum. This is probably the best type of assignment you can get when your name is Gehry!

And so Frank Gehry delivered!

Eleven thousand square meters of exhibition space distributed over nineteen galleries. A spectacular structure from the outside! Curvy titanium cladded exteriors catching the light and reflecting the surrounding. A beautiful light filled atrium which serves as the heart of the museum. 10 classically shaped galleries and 9 additional ones, which odd shapes give contrast and make you lose yourself in such a grandiose space.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is truly a masterpiece. I know there were controversies with regards to such museum and its design but I can’t be bothered. I love it!

It’s hard to believe it but this museum is already over 20 years old as It was inaugurated in 1997. This makes me appreciate it even more as Gehry really had an unparalleled vision of the future.

The art

The museum is so beautiful, it would almost make you forget it is there to host art pieces. I’ll just show you the most famous ones:

The largest gallery of the museum now host the Richard Serra’s monumental installation The Matter of Time.

The picture above shows the models of the installation. The pictures below show the actual installation.

On one of the terrasse, you will find the Tulips by Jeff Koons.

The Puppy by Jeff Koons is right in front of the museum entrance. The colors of the plants covering this Puppy change with the seasons.

Maman, the almost 9 meters tall spider by Louise Bourgeois is behind the museum.

In conclusion:

The Guggenheim Museum located in Bilbao, is the most impressive and the most beautiful of all the Guggenheim Museums. Bilbao being such a cool city, it definitively should make it on your BID list or at least on your itinerary, if you are planning a road trip in Spain!

The fountains around the museum made me want to freeze water! Just with camera obviously. If you need to learn how to do that you can check this little photography guide I created a while back.

The Technical Bits

You can find a lot of information on the general Guggenheim official website: www.guggenheim.org

For tickets and information on exhibitions, use the specific Bilbao museum official website: www.guggenheim-bilbao.eus

Where did we stay?

Note: Booking affiliated links ahead!

We splurged and stayed in one of the suites at the Hotel Miró!

It is located on the same square as the Guggenheim Museum and offers amazing views of the museum. The spa can be booked for 2 and was a delight!

It’s not often that I recommend hotels and I only do when it was great, special or totally worth it. As our trip to Bilbao was first and foremost to see the Guggenheim, choosing a hotel offering an incredible view was important. The rest of Bilbao was cherry on the cake, as I didn’t expect the city to be so vibrant and interesting. I had the best vegan sushi I ever had, in Bilbao!!

The Gran Hotel Domine Bilbao seems to offer a great view of the museum too. Check both out and decide what is best for you!

Here are a few books on the Guggenheim Museum and Frank O. Gehry that you may like

As you can guess, these are Amazon affiliated links. If you decide to purchase one or more of these books, I may get a small commission at no extra cost to you.

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