Unlike the other Spanish towns, Bilbao paints a different picture of a Spanish city with modern architecture, places with Basque cultural influence and beautiful, world-class museums!
The Guggenheim Museum is a dedicated modern contemporary art museum that features the likes of artists such as Andy Warhol, Anish Kapoor, Eduardo Chillida and the likes.
The contemporary architecture of the museum by the American-Canadian architect, Frank Gehry is one of the most admired artworks by critics, admirers and the people of Bilbao!
Inaugurated in 1997, about four years after its construction, the museum is a classic piece of architecture, built using sandstone, glass and titan!
Earlier stainless steel was planned to be used in the building construction but due to its close proximity to the bridge, it would have been a reflective surface that posed a threat to the drivers! Hence, the construction material was changed to titanium.
The musuem features a permanent collection from the 20th century to contemporary period with the main focus on American and European paintings and sculptures from the post-war era!
Placed right in front of the titanium structure, Yves Klein's Fire Fountain that shoots streams of fire into air, creating dancing patterns, is a spectacular sight to watch!
Coming to the interiors of the museum, the building has three floors with high ceilings. The first floor has a ceiling height of about 50 feet, to display huge artworks.
The first floor displays Richard Serra's huge steel sculptures like huge cylinders.
The beautiful part about the building's architecture is that he has no beginning or end nor does it has any left or right! However, it does have a core, that is the highest room with 50 meters high.
Till date, nearly 170 exhibitions have been hosted in the musuem in the last four decades!