Guggenheim Museum Bilbao facts for kids

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Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
Museo Guggenheim Bilbao / Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa
The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, along the Nervión Estuary in central Bilbao
Established	18 October 1997; 27 years ago (1997-10-18)
Location	Abando, Bilbao, Spain
Type	Art museum
Visitors	1 289 147 (2022)
Public transit access	Bilbao tram

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a famous museum of modern and contemporary art. It was designed by a Canadian-American architect named Frank Gehry. You can find it in Bilbao, a city in the Biscay province of Spain.

The museum officially opened on October 18, 1997. King Juan Carlos I of Spain was there for the opening. The first exhibition showed 250 pieces of modern art. The museum is built right next to the Nervion River. This river flows through Bilbao and out to the Cantabrian Sea. It is part of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, which has several museums around the world. The museum shows both permanent artworks and special visiting exhibits. These exhibits feature art from Spanish and international artists. It is also one of the largest museums in Spain.

The building itself is a masterpiece of contemporary architecture. Many experts call it a "signal moment" in architecture. This means it was a very important and special building. Critics, teachers, and the public all agreed it was amazing. In a 2010 survey, architecture experts named it one of the most important buildings built since 1980.

History of the Museum
- How the Museum Started
- Future Plans for Urdaibai
The Museum Building
Virtual Building Design
Art Exhibitions
Impact on the City
Gallery
See also

History of the Museum

How the Museum Started

In 1991, the Basque government had an idea. They suggested to the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation that they would pay for a new Guggenheim museum. They wanted to build it in Bilbao's old port area. This area used to be the city's main source of money.

The Basque government agreed to pay for the museum's construction. They also set up a fund to buy new artworks. Plus, they agreed to pay a fee to the Guggenheim Foundation. They would also help pay for the museum's yearly costs. In return, the foundation agreed to manage the museum. They would also share parts of their art collection with the Bilbao museum. This meant organizing special temporary exhibitions there.

The museum was built by a company called Ferrovial. It cost about $89 million to build. The night before the official opening, about 5,000 people from Bilbao gathered outside. They enjoyed an outdoor light show and concerts. On October 18, 1997, Juan Carlos I of Spain officially opened the museum.

Future Plans for Urdaibai

In 2008, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao announced a new idea. They were thinking about building an expansion. This new part would be in Urdaibai, an estuary east of Bilbao. By 2022, the government of the Biscay province planned to put 40 million euros towards this expansion.

The Museum Building

The museum is covered in glass, titanium, and limestone.

Amazing Architecture

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation chose Frank Gehry to be the architect. The director, Thomas Krens, told Gehry to design something bold and new. The curves on the outside of the building might look random. But Gehry said they were designed to "catch the light." The inside of the museum has a large, bright central area. From here, you can see Bilbao's estuary and the hills around it. Gehry called this central area "The Flower" because of its shape. It helps organize the whole museum.

When the museum opened in 1997, everyone loved it. It was immediately called one of the most amazing buildings in the world. Many saw it as a masterpiece of the 20th century. Architect Philip Johnson even called it "the greatest building of our time." A critic named Calvin Tomkins described it as "a fantastic dream ship." He said it had "undulating forms" and a "cloak of titanium." Its shiny panels also looked like fish scales. The Independent newspaper called the museum "an astonishing architectural feat."

An aerial view of the museum

The museum fits perfectly into the city. Its shapes of stone, glass, and titanium connect together. It sits on a 32,500 square meter area along the Nervión River. This used to be an industrial part of the city. From the street, it looks modest. But from the river, it looks truly impressive. The museum has a total of 24,000 square meters. About 11,000 square meters are for showing art. This was more exhibition space than the three Guggenheim collections in New York and Venice combined at that time.

The 11,000 square meters of exhibition space are spread across nineteen galleries. Ten of these galleries have a classic, straight-walled design. You can see their stone finishes from the outside. The other nine galleries have unusual, swirling shapes. You can spot them from the outside by their organic forms and titanium covering. The largest gallery is 30 meters wide and 130 meters long. In 2005, it held Richard Serra's huge sculpture, The Matter of Time.

The building was finished on time and within budget. This is very rare for such a complex building. Gehry explained how he did it in an interview. First, he made sure the "organization of the artist" was in charge. This stopped political or business groups from changing the design. Second, he got a detailed and realistic cost estimate before starting. Third, he used computer programs like CATIA V3. He also worked closely with the construction workers. This helped control costs during building.

Strong Foundation

The museum building used over 25,000 tons of concrete. This needed very deep and strong foundations. The foundation was made of reinforced concrete piles. These were driven into the solid rock about 14 meters deep.

The building sits on a clay base from the nearby Estuary of Bilbao. This required 665 piles to be driven into the ground. Special boring machines did this work.

Unique Outer Skin

Interior

The bottom part of the building is covered with beige limestone. This stone comes from quarries near Granada. It is cut into 5 cm thick slabs. The building is bright because of its walls. They are specially treated to protect the inside from the sun. The glass in the windows is also treated. This stops light from damaging the artworks inside.

The museum is covered in 33,000 titanium plates. These plates are arranged like scales. They are placed on a galvanized steel structure. Titanium was used instead of copper or lead because those materials can be toxic. Many tests were done to find a material that could handle heat and bad weather. It also had to keep its special look. During this research, titanium samples were tested. The best way to treat them was discovered.

Making the titanium plates is a delicate process. It needs places with lots of energy. So, the laminated parts were made in Pittsburgh, USA. The rolling process made the titanium plates very thin, only 0.4 mm thick. This is much thinner than if steel plates had been used. Also, titanium is about half the weight of steel. The museum's titanium covering weighs only 60 tons.

During the design, the pieces were made to resist bad weather. A quilted, rather than wavy, shape was chosen. This helps it resist wind and avoid shaking during storms. Titanium is also a material that causes little pollution. Each part was designed differently based on its direction on the building. This way, they perfectly match the curves Gehry wanted.

Virtual Building Design

In 1993, architects at Gehry Partners started using Dassault Systèmes' CATIA software. They used it to design the museum's exterior. This software helped them create a 3D model of the building. It calculated the stress on materials point by point. This 3D model showed different tensions. It also helped calculate the values for many parts of the museum's structure. This included the steel frame, titanium covering, and foundations. The software also helped to automatically cut materials like stone and titanium plates.

The success of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao brought a new way of designing buildings. This became known as Building Information Modeling (BIM) later on. Architectural critic Paul Goldberger said that Bilbao "could not have been constructed without CATIA." He also said it was the first building where CATIA was used in almost every step of the design and construction.

Art Exhibitions

The museum has "large-scale, site-specific works and installations." These are artworks made especially for their location. An example is Richard Serra's 100-meter-long sculpture called Snake. The museum also shows art by Basque artists. Plus, it has a selection of works from the foundation's modern art collection.

In 1997, the museum opened with a big exhibition. It was called "The Guggenheim Museums and the Art of This Century." It showed 300 pieces of 20th-century art. This included art from Cubism to new media art. Most pieces came from the Guggenheim's own collection. But the museum also bought paintings by artists like Willem de Kooning and Mark Rothko. They also asked artists like Jenny Holzer and Richard Serra to create new works.

The exhibitions change often. The museum usually hosts themed exhibitions. For example, they might focus on Chinese or Russian art. Traditional paintings and sculptures are fewer than installations and electronic art forms. The most important part of the collection is The Matter of Time. This is a series of weathering steel sculptures by Serra. It is the only permanent exhibit. It is housed in the 130-meter Arcelor Gallery.

The collections often highlight Avant-garde art, 20th-century abstract art, and non-objective art. In 2012, David Hockney's exhibition brought over 290,000 visitors to the museum.

Tulips by Jeff Koons
Puppy by Jeff Koons in front of the museum

Impact on the City

The museum was opened to help make the city of Bilbao better. Almost right after it opened, the Guggenheim Bilbao became a very popular place for tourists. People came from all over the world to see it. In its first three years, almost 4 million tourists visited the museum. This helped create about €500 million in economic activity.

Aerial view of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao

The local government estimated that visitors spent a lot of money. They spent it on hotels, restaurants, shops, and transport. This allowed the government to collect €100 million in taxes. This amount was more than what it cost to build the museum!

The building has also appeared in movies and music videos. It was in the 1999 James Bond film The World Is Not Enough. It also appeared in the Tamil film Sivaji (2007). Mariah Carey's music video "Sweetheart" also featured the museum.