Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Still out on the terrace, notice the museum's commitment to public spaces: On
the right, a grand
staircase
leads under a big green bridge to a tower; the effect wraps
the bridge into the museum's grand scheme. The 30-foot-tall
spider,
called
Maman
(“Mommy”),isFrenchartistLouiseBourgeois'depictionofhermother:Shespinsabeau-
tiful and delicate web of life...which is used to entrap her victims. (It makes a little more
sense if you understand that the artist's mother was a weaver. Or maybe not.)
Gehrydesignedthevast
ground floor
mainlytohouseoften-hugemodern-artinstall-
ations. Computer-controlled lighting adjusts for different exhibits. Surfaces are clean and
bare, so you can focus on the art. While most of the collection comes and goes, Richard
Serra's huge
Matter of Time
sculpture in the largest gallery (#104) is permanent. Who
would want to move those massive metal coils? The intent is to have visitors walk among
these metal walls—the “art” is experiencing this journey.
BecausethismuseumispartoftheGuggenheim“family”ofmuseums,the
collection
perpetually rotates among the sister Guggenheim galleries in New York, Venice, and Ber-
lin. The best approach to your visit is simply to immerse yourself in a modern-art happen-
ing, rather than to count on seeing a particular piece or a specific artist's works.
You can't fully enjoy the museum's architecture without taking a circular stroll up
and down each side of the river along the handsome promenade and over the two modern
pedestrian bridges.
(After you tour the museum, you can borrow a free “outdoor audi-
oguide”tolearnmore—IDrequired—butitdoesn'tsaymuchortakeyouacrosstheriver.)
The building's skin—shiny and metallic, with a scale-like texture—is made of thin titani-
um, carefully created to give just the desired color and reflective quality. The external ap-
pearance tells you what's inside: the blocky limestone parts contain square-shaped galler-
ies, and the titanium sections hold nonlinear spaces.
Asyoulook out over the rest ofthe city,think ofthis: Gehry designed his building to
reflect what he saw here in Bilbao. Now other architects are, in turn, creating new build-
ings that complement his. It's an appealing synergy for this old city.
Leaving the Museum:
To get to the Old Town from the Guggenheim, take the tram
thatleavesfromtheriverlevelbesidethemuseum,justpastthekid-pleasingfountain(ride
it in direction: Atxuri). Hop off at the Arriaga stop, near the dripping-Baroque riverfront
theater of the same name. From here, cross the street to enter the heart of the Old Town.
Near the Guggenheim
Fine Arts Museum (Museo de Bellas Artes)
Often overshadowed by the Guggenheim, the Fine Arts Museum contains a thoughtfully
laid out collection arranged chronologically from the 12th century to the present. Find
