Bilbao and The Guggenheim Museum
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Avenida Abandoibarra, 2
Bilbao 48001, Spain
http://www.guggenheim.org/bilbao
I wasn’t really prepared for Bilbao-for its urbane elegance and self-confidence, for its seamless integration of new and old and for its charm. It reminds me of Chicago, secure enough in its own identity to renew itself from an industrial past into a postmodern service sector future.
Bilbao-The River Nervion
Sitting near the Bay of Biscay, Bilbao is flanked by two mountain ranges and bisected by the River Nervion.
The city has been regenerated and the driver for change has been architect Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum. a project between the city and the Guggenheim Foundation, which opened on October 19, 1997. I was familiar with Gehry’s Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and the Experience Music Project in Seattle but neither of these buildings has the emotional power of the titanium clad Bilbao structure. I saw it first at night looking like a surrealist castle covered in armoured plate. It glistened with foreboding in an amber light and there was a sense that at any time it might just start moving…
Bilbao Market
I started the next morning with a trip to the city’s market which is always a great way to gauge the food culture of any city and then headed along the banks of the Nervion crossing the delicate feather-like Calatrava Bridge.
The Calatrava Bridge-spanning The River Nervion
Approaching it from the river, the museum crouches like a giant titanium armadillo, the focal point of of one of the most intelligent expressions of urban planning that I have experienced. The outer shell gives an impression of organic impermeability whilst the limestone adds a softer note.
At this Guggenheim the art is outside as well as inside.
Louise Bourgeois’ Maman
Louise Bourgeois’ Maman (1999) was originally commissioned for the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern. 30 ft high and over 33 ft wide, it dominates the river bank and just like the gallery makes me feel as if it is frozen in time, waiting for its moment…
Fujiko Nakaya’s Fog Sculpture #08025 (F. O. G.) alongside Anish
Kapoor’s Tall Tree and the Eye
1998 installation Fog Sculpture #08025 (F. O. G. ) was a gift to the museum from artist Robert Rauschenberg. With 1000 fog nozzles and a high pressure pump and motor system to power it creates a kinetic and transient frame for Anish Kapoor’s monumental Tall Tree and the Eye (2009) which is constructed of 73 reflective spheres anchored around three axes.
Jeff Koons Puppy
Koons is well known for his celebrations of contemporary kitsch reframed in media that reference the past. With his 1992 work Puppy we are in the land of Hallmark Card cuteness morphed with the textures and smell of formal garden planning-and of course it changes shape and its perfume with the seasons.
The interior is just as extraordinary with each piece of glass, limestone and titanium being cut to different sizes, a technique only made possible through advanced computer design programmes.
The art inside the museum is just as visually arresting with works from the museum’s collection by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gilbert & George, Alex Katz, Sigmar Polke, Robert Rauschenberg, James Rosenquist and Andy Warhol on display . But my favourite is a permanent installation that dominates the space that it was designed for.
Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time
Richard Serra’s The Matter of Time is a series of elliptical torqued steel pieces that draw you in to a dialogue with the building that contains it. It is primal and yet extremely sophisticated in its construction, pushing at the boundaries of what is possible, vast yet claustrophobic and surprisingly moving.
The museum has two fine restaurants. Nerua boasts a Michelin star and features the conceptual food of local food star Josean Alija, while Bistró Guggenheim Bilbao serves excellent and reasonably priced modern Bistro cooking with three courses for €25.40+ VAT inclusive of wine.
Bilbao is a great place to spend a day or two. It is a city that is comfortable with itself and that has successfully integrated the avant-garde into its Basque DNA. As a gateway to the foodie heaven of San Sebastián or just as a place to hang out, eat pinxtos, drink Rioja and enjoy the art and landscape it is definitely worth a trip.
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