Guggenhein+Museum

History

In 1929 Solomon Guggenheim and his friend, Hilla Rebay, collect art of modern artists. The collection was displayed in his apartment, but it grew and the apartment was too small. So in 1937 he established the Solomon Guggenheim Foundation to open one or more museums. His first museum was called "The Museum of Non Objective Painting" and was opened in 1939. It was located in New York. It desplayed paintings of Rudolf Bauer, Paul Klee, Wassily Kandinsky and Piet Mondrian. Then he added pictures of Pablo Picasso.

There were too many paintings so Solomon asked Frank Lloyd Wright to create a museum in 1943. Wright took 15 years trying to find the perfect design. The area to build the museum was in the 89th Street and Fifth Avenue, with a view of the Central Park. Then he added paintings of different artists to his collection.



Wrights' last important work was this building. He died 6 months before it was opened. In 1959 they opened the doors to the wide public.

Characteristics


 * The shape of the building is a cylinder.
 * From far away it looks like a white ribbon curled.


 * Is wider in the top than the bottom.




 * In the inside of the building it has a spiral ramp.

People and Places
 * It has no windows on the walls.
 * It has a beautiful skylight.
 * Solomon Guggenheim is the owner of the collection of paintings. Was the President of the Museum.
 * Frank Wright was the architect that designed the museum.
 * Hilla Rebay helped Guggenheim to collect paintings. She was the first director of the Museum.
 * Richard Armstrong is the actual director of the museum.

Renovations or Changes

The biggest renovations happened in September 2005 and July 2008.


 * They removed 11 coats of painting, fixed the cracks and repainted the building.
 * They used new materials that didn't let sound go through the walls.

The interior was restored in 1992.
 * They fixed the skylights, and doors.
 * And they added the climate control system that helped the preservation of the paintings.

Floor Plan

Wright designed 700 sketches of the building.

Links [] Names Diego de León