Guggenheim Museum

2/18/2013

A must see place in town. But it's not as spectacular as I would have thought. Plus: the day of our visit the ramp was closed and we couldn't access the whole museum.

6/30/2012

Currently, my favorite museum, if you CAN have a favorite museum.

Not only do you get a mild workout while you're viewing/appreciating art, but the slight vertigo by looking at your surroundings makes the experience even that much better.

1/26/2012

There are so many places in New York City that one hears about.  Often.  References in art, music, books, poems, classes, interviews, conversations, restaurants.  This list could go on to the tiniest little reference and inference, and back up the the largest, most blatantly and unapologetically mentioned place, concept, Billy Joel marriage, bowl of soup, whatever.  Hype.

The Guggenheim lived up to all the inferences and references, art and hype.  And how!  But then, I like Modern Art and Architecture.

It's tucked away on the UES, amidst gorgeous old and very rich buildings.  Next to Central Park and the chauffeured crowd and all of their accoutrements.  And tourists and all of THEIR accoutrements.

I was walking along Central Park taking in the park.  Randomly I looked up, and there it sat.  I felt as though I'd happened upon Camelot.  Majestic, magical.  No, it's transplendent.  Although, that could be my education in Modern Art, "Contemporary" Architecture, and Annie Hall showing.

Clean lines.  Stripes.  Circles.  Half spheres.  Slight Nautilus.  Very Frank Lloyd Wright.  The building itself made me want to read up again on Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Louis Kahn.  It also reminded me that I needed to read a book I'd found at a second-hand shop recently, Peggy, the Wayward Guggenheim.

I was there to see an artist's retrospective simply entitled, All.  It was so playful in the way it pushed boundaries.  It embodied the quote from Charlie and the Chocolate factory, no, the scene.  It needs to include the action of Gene Wider in his sparkling eyes and wild hair, with a kind smile, taking hold of the utterly spoiled and narrow-thoughted Veruca Salt's chin to illustrate the following quote, "We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams."  Arthur O'Shaughnessy wrote it first, but that scene embodies it, the playfulness of Maurizio Cattelan's now-closed exhibit.  

Every piece of his art was hung from a trestle suspended from the ceiling.  The little drummer boy (who'd previously for a short time sat over the Menil roof in Houston) occasionally played his little tin drum.  As I got closer and closer and closer to the top of the museum, I saw faux pigeons perching on pieces of art, then the trestle itself.  Impressed by everything I saw, every vantage point, I took fifty to sixty photographs.  All of them were wonderful, except for the two that were out of focus.

I also took little breaks from the awesomeness and ducked into both Kandinsky exhibits.  One was on his Bauhaus days, the other was a study of his Painting with the White Border.  Almost every sketch that led him to the final painting, then the actual final painting.  Magnifique.  I love that the Guggenheim provided me with the opportunity to see that.  To see all of it.

So yes, transplendent.

12/30/2013

If you  have chose between the Met and Guggenheim, do not think.  Choose the met. The artist on display at the guggenheim was Christopher Wool. And unfortunately, his art did not appeal to me at all, and I can easily tolerate what others fail to call art! The museum has two spirals along which art was displayed, and you climb up the spiral as you view art. I prefer flat floors and stairs/elevators than feel queasy climbing a spiral! Small museum overall, and you can be done with ALL paintings in 2 hours or so.

6/4/2013

I can totally see where the Guggenheim fits into classes of Museums.  You have behemoths like the MET with VAST collections that you can scour for days and still not complete in their entirety.  Then you have the Guggenheim, a nice space that is doable in 1.5 to 2 hours.  The view of the spiral from the lobby indoors is pretty cool, and the museum itself is easy to navigate; just walk up the ramp!

Most days and times the admission price is around $20 (which I think is way overpriced for what the Guggenheim is)...   BUT  Saturday, two hours before close, they have a pay what you wish.  And the line goes around two city blocks, but it moves quickly.  Definitely the best time to go, we had plenty of time to see the whole museum.

12/2/2013

Interesting museum, but not TOO much to see in here.  Seems like there's more space inside than there are exhibits.  The building is nice to look at though.

1/23/2013

WARNING: go early if you go for pay-as-you-wish night - it starts at 5:45pm on Saturdays!!  We got there at 6:15pm and were astonished the line went all the way down 88th and back up Madison ending almost at 89th!  I thought there was no way were were going to get in to the museum in time, so we just waited in line and looked up restaurants in the area.  But surprisingly it moved quickly and we got in by 7PM (a full 45 mins to see ~7 floors of Picasso's = not enough time!)  It was fun, and free, but go earlier or just splurge and pay $22 for a ticket another day!

3/23/2012

Funkadelic art in transition of spiral mania and really aggressive staff. The building's architecture makes the museum, otherwise I'd rather go to the Met.

The current exhibit featured compounded junkyard car parts abstractly formed into more colorfully abstract smashed car parts. Another exhibit displayed the depressed life of Francesca Woodman who jumped to her death at age 22; it's believed that her art in photography drove her to this.

Still I can appreciate the exhibitions, extremely contemporary and abstract nonetheless as sound and motion film are on display in whacky ways as well. The staff was not half as insightful as the Met but was glad to rip one apart for getting an inch too close to the displays.

It is a fantastic place to see and can be done in only a couple of hours. I love the location on the UES by the park and the workout to your legs from rounding the 7 story spiral ramp. Don't miss the coffee and food area where they serve beer, wine, espresso, and snacks with great views of the park.

5/11/2011

It's hard to compete in the "museum industry" in NYC what with the MET and MoMA and various others.
The Guggenheim is somewhat of an oddity in its (awesomely) funky exterior and interior design. It really is an interesting, marvelous piece of architecture - which is one of the main reasons I wanted to visit. I can definitely see it getting pretty busy some days as a smaller museum.

The Guggenheim is oddly located alongside Central Park on the Upper East Side. It's also kinda expensive at $18 for regular admission - I was fortunate enough to get in free w/a friend's discount.

The spiral design let's you start off at the top and stroll on down towards various types of rotating art pieces depending on when you visit.

Last, but certainly not least, no pictures are allowed anywhere above the ground floor - LAME.

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11/21/2013

The museum is a pretty cool experience.The line was not that bad because I went early. The building is huge and its architecture is defiantly one of a kind. The art exhibit was pretty cool considering the museum houses the works of Picasso and Monet. Its very good for rainy days.

4/26/2012

I give this place 5 stars if you like extreme modern art and like analyzing everything.

Personally, I'm not a fan, but the structure of the building is enough for me to not say anything negative about this place....just breathtaking to walk all the way to the top of the building.

12/2/2012

Are you considering going to see Picasso Black & White? Do it! If you go Saturday around 5:30, you can get in for $1, wait will be about 30 minutes. The exhibit shows a work you don't often see or even think about when you hear Picasso. The absence of color allows us to see the purity of his ideas and they are obviously sophisticated.

I, for one, really love the format of the museum. It's not huge, so you can see about 90% at a fairly fast pace in the time you have on the free day. It's impossible to see everything in a museum.

10/27/2011

This is probably the biggest let down of the three museums I have visited in NYC.  First, this place looks like a parking structure.  It has no seats so be prepared to do a lot of standing.  The architecture of this place is probably the best thing about this place.

I am not really appreciative of this type of art.  I remember there was a painting with a cross on it.. and that was supposed to be good.  I was like what?!  There was other pieces of art which I didn't appreciate.. or I thought some loud mouth artist praised.. and that's when I realized how art is really subjective.

I'd skip if you're looking for real art or to be entertained.. or to even sit down.

2/7/2014

I'm not going to lie - this place is pretty out there, but in a good way. The entire museum was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, so the structure itself is a work of art. It's located very close to Central Park, which for tourists is a blessing and a course. It is centrally located and easy to find, but it is difficult to find an inexpensive parking space without help. I used my smartphone's park whiz app to find an inexpensive lot or garage nearby, which it did without problem.  As it is a museum for modern art, this shouldn't be surprising. The curving walkway is almost coiled over itself due to the circular nature of the building, which can make it hard to really find out where you are. The wide variety of art makes up for that problem, with works by Christoper Wool, Picasso, Gino Severini, and more, with genres ranging from Dadaism to primitivism, impressionism and soooo much more! I wish I could spend a week here, but even then I would only have seen a tiny bit of the Guggenheim's collection.

6/2/2013

The Guggenheim is the best museum in New York to go to on a date. If you go to the Met then your date will want to look at the Egyptian galleries whereas you want to look at Dutch painting, or whatever, and eventually you'll reach a compromise that you both secretly resent. Same at MoMA and any other museum that has a diverse array of exhibits to see. The Guggenheim is good for a date because it doesn't give you a choice. There's nowhere to go but up the ramp. Of course, there's the Tannhauser galleries on the side, but you can always stop in those on the way back down (if you really need to see Kandinsky AGAIN). This is also good for tourists. Tourists don't care about art, they just want to visit a museum and feel like they've achieved something by visiting it, and the feeling of walking to the apex of a spiral ramp is a great simulation of achievement. That's why whenever you go to the Guggenheim pretty much everyone you see is either a couple on a date or tourists.

As for looking at art the Guggenheim is not so great. Everything is on a slant, the galleries are chopped up into little rectangular alcoves, there's the dull roar of everything that happens in the atrium echoing as permanent background noise, you feel like you're on the world's longest treadmill. The only way art looks good here is if it somehow takes the shape of the museum into account and responds to it. I'm not a big fan of Maurizio Cattelan but his retrospective here, where he hung all the sculptures from the roof so that as you went up the ramp you would see themes and imagery developing in his work over time, and get several various perspectives on them, was really brilliant. Also the Tino Sehgal piece where nothing was hung in the museum and you would just talk to people of increasing age as you went to the top was a great response to the physical feeling of progress you get from walking up the ramp--makes you wonder what "progress" really is in history or in life.

That said, I've seen some more conventional exhibitions at the Guggenheim that were really well put together and I learned a ton from them--the Richard Prince retrospective in 2008 and the recent Gutai show are two stand-outs for me. Even if the space wasn't so flattering to these exhibitions I appreciated the chance to see them.

12/16/2011

If it weren't for the Maurizio Cattelan exhibit, this museum would get 3 stars from me. But the exhibit was absolutely jaw dropping. The museum hung from the ceiling over 130 pieces from his collection and it was just one of the most unique exhibits I've ever seen. It is completely captivating seeing each of his pieces that so profoundly and blatantly critique religion, history, and society. He creates some of the most incredible images and his pieces continue to draw you in with every step throughout the museum.

Thank goodness for the exhibit because the rest of the museum was rather uninspiring, appearing as mere afterthoughts to the central exhibit.

3/5/2013

I visited the Guggenheim Museum this past weekend and loved it! The Frank Lloyd Right creation is just genius and I kept touching the walls (the only art I could touch, while at the museum). I enjoyed the collection - Gutai and the masterpieces of Cezanne, Monet, Seurat and Picasso. Great works, nice crowd but not overwhelming and all in all a very good experience. I would go back here in a heartbeat!

12/11/2011

The Wright structure itself is probably the main draw, but even so, as a local, this museum is not on my shortlist (which would include the Met, the Moma, Museum of Arts and Design, and maybe the Cooper Hewitt). It charges the entry fee of a large museum but it can feel more like visiting a gallery, since the main rotunda usually holds just one exhibit, e.g. the current Cattelan retrospective, and the offshoot galleries are often not that exciting.

About the Cattelan: with its spare wall description at the start and no other contextual information nor informational guide, the museum leaves the viewer to his or her own devices in interpreting the 100+ works hanging from the ceiling. I'd done a little quick reading in advance, but on the whole I still felt mostly lost. I skipped the audio guide, which may have been a bad move. That being said, the exhibit is fun to see even without complete knowledge of the backstory of all the works -- art is subjective...so just make up some of your own.

5/9/2014

Gorgeous building. A must-see. A suggestion;  main exhibit begins on bottom floor and visitors must walk up incline to view development of artist's career. I suggest taking elevator to top floor and walking down instead. You'll see his development in reverse but you'll enjoy the view and it won't feel like work.  Their shows have improved tremendously over the recent years and I'm encountering artists I've never known. Also, because of the circular architecture it never feels crowded. Visitors move along since gravity propels you downward !  Enjoy !

4/26/2013

The Guggenheim Museum is an architectural gem, its rounded outside presents a contrast with the generally sharp and imposing New York city architecture and once you're inside you can't help but immediately look up admiring the enormous skylight and internal shape of the building.

However, while the architecture is in itself a work of art, its not necessarily the best venue for viewing artwork. The ante rooms which house the Guggenheim's more permanent collection were crowded, even on a weekday and felt cramped. The artwork on display along the main walkway was often overwhelming to the space and frequently was better appreciated from across the building, either up or down the ramp from the work.

Overall I'm glad I went, but I don't know that I'd be eager to go back. The bathrooms within the museum were a surprising treat, they have a unique design and make you feel as if you are inside a piece of art.

3/10/2013

Art After Dark.... INTERESTING (and smart $) BUSINESS MODEL.

A lot of the museums nowadays are doing this after-dark setup where the hours are a bit extended, folks are glammed up as if they are going to SL (literally, SO dressed up) and a full cash bar with catering in full effect.  Interesting demographic of folks in the dating scene and you will without a doubt leave with a few numbers or new facebook friends.

Not sure how I feel about this quite yet but I know I had a great time this past Friday!

3/13/2012

As of March 2012, go to the Chamberlain show -- but in general, I love the space -- it's such a peaceful way to interact with the work -- prevents having to fight bitches to get a look at a tiny painting.

Admission is $20ish (adults) -- oh, and before I forget, the permanent collection is solid as well. Absolutely worth a trip, and the cafe is tasty as well. Strong coffee, pretty sandos, all bougie, all the time.

8/1/2012

The perfect Guggenheim Museum-goer...

Will not: mind spending $22 for adult admission
Will: respect the 'no pictures on floors 2 through 6' rule
Must not: think that John Chamberlain's sculptures look like crumpled-up car parts thrown carelessly together to create an incoherent metal heap that would give you tetanus if you so much as grazed it
Must: appreciate, understand, love, and/or be titillated by modern art
Has not: uttered the words, 'Who is Frank Lloyd Wright again?!'
Has: a profound interest in Francesa Woodman's obsession with self portrait & her own nakedness (exhibited March 16-June 13)
Is not: enticed to sprint up & around each cylindrical floor to see if it makes her dizzy
Is: probably not me

8/5/2011

4 stars for the building
2 stars for the current exhibit

I'm not necessarily a connoisseur of architecture who possesses extensive knowledge of what goes into the design of grand structures, nonetheless I can  appreciate the aesthetic beauty and the constructional feat that is this amazing building.

I love this building. I love the encompassing white sleek exterior that extends to the interior. I enjoy the spiral design and the continuous sloping floors. It's a great experience just visiting this beautiful and awesome building.

The art is another matter.
In our first visit to the Guggenheim my bf and I unfortunately witnessed the "Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity" exhibit. OMG. Or more like, WTF!
In descending order: The top floor contained his "paintings" which is basically a strip of paint showing different hues of gray.
The next floor had rocks over and under sheet metal.
Another floor had squiggly lines.
There were rocks on top of pillows, rocks purposely arranged 'artistically' on the floor, and the much cooler and more interesting giant cotton puffs with metal wiring along with a metal box exploding with cotton puff.

If I paid $15 to see shades of gray on a canvas and rocks on the floor I would have been very very cranky and disappointed. I'm sure the philosophical meaning behind Lee Ufan's art is deep and complex but it was not enjoyable to view, nothing resonated with me, nothing was relatable (although my bf said that when he lies on top of me he's like the rock and I'm like the pillow).

Call me a vulgar pleb, but if I have to pay $15 to see art I want a fantastic visual feast for my eyes. Give me Van Gogh. Give me Monet. Gimme the cool ass room lined with $1 bills near the bottom floor ( I believe it's called the Hans-Peter Feldman's Hugo Boss Prize installation)

Tip:
Go on Saturday between 5:45pm to 7:15pm, it's PAY AS YOU WISH. My bf and I paid $0.25 each, which I deemed appropriate for the Lee Ufan exhibit.

Plan ahead, look online to see what their current exhibit is. The Lee Ufan exhibit is til September 28. Visit the Guggenheim after that date.

They are total No Photography nazis. Don't pop out your camera unless you are on the ground floor.

1/12/2013

The architecture of the building is as much a draw as the exhibits are.

Definitely too many people in here for the Picasso paintings...we had to wait just to get a glimpse at times. Didn't really feel it was worth the admission fee when we were able to go to the Met for a $1 donation. Only plus side was getting student rates for admission.

Weird that a bunch of people lingered in the tiny cafe area on the third floor. They were done eating but didn't bother to make room for the people who had bought food and were standing behind them or sitting on the floor and eating.

But then again, I'm not so much an art person as I am a historian. If you're like me, save your money and go to the Met.

7/20/2011

For me, one of the main reasons to come to the Guggenheim is for the building itself.  Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the structure was highly controversial both in location and design.  Wright disliked New York City, and the City disliked his vision for the museum (unfortunately, both Wright and Guggenheim died before the building's ultimate completion in 1959).  Nevertheless, what we're left with is an architectural marvel housing some of the world's premiere modern art.

The exhibits change frequently, and I find them really hit-or-miss.  It all depends on your aesthetic, I suppose.  But I was less than impressed by the exhibit on our most recent visit, "Lee Ufan: Marking Infinity."  The Korean born artist's show takes up the four top floors of the museum and incorporates batting, stones, sheet metal, pillows, and paintings of lines.  I guess I'm just not a fan of the Mono-ha movement, or the "art of encounter and relation."  I didn't get it.  That being said, I've seen exhibits here that I really loved, so when you visit really matters.  And I really enjoyed Hans-Peter Feldman's Hugo Boss Prize installation in which he took the $100,000 prize, converted it into $1 bills, and then papered a huge room with them in an overlapping grid.  So.much.money!

I love the Guggenheim's permanent collection, however.  It's small, but it packs a full-blown art punch.  The Thannhauser Collection -- bequeathed to the Guggenheim by Justin Thannhauser -- includes some of the world's most acclaimed Impressionists and Post-Impressionit artists from Manet, Monet, and Pisarro to Cézanne, Gaugin, Picasso, and Van Gogh.  Also on permanent display is "Kandinsky at the Bauhaus, 1922 - 1933."  These seminal works from the museum's collection are mesmerizing.

If for no other reason, come to the Guggenheim for the unique experience: the building looming up 5th Avenue, the towering rotunda, the segmented skylight, spiraling up and down the slowly sloping floors soaking in the exhibits.

8/1/2013

Suggested donation on Saturdays from 5:45-7:45. A somewhat specific window of time for a museum "pay what you wish," but two hours gives you plenty of time to see the entire museum, and it doesn't get outrageously crowded. Frank Lloyd Wright was on to something with the layout of his museum space - the flow of the museum is great for viewing art. Plus the architecture itself is very cool to look at (dare I say it, the building itself is art?!). There is enough space for every type of art viewer to comfortably view the art- whether you're a "walk through quickly and look at things from afar" viewer or a "get up close and personal and read every thing you see" viewer. I happen to be the former and my boyfriend is the latter, but at the Guggenheim neither of us feels encumbered by the other. And the art is always interesting too!

9/16/2014

wish i could give it a negative one.rude staff plus no photographs plus expensive entry prices equals not going in !!!!!! go to the moma or the met.they know how to treat people and from what i have read and heard the artwork is much better.

2/26/2013

Found myself visiting this museum after trying to go to the Met. Apparently the Met is closed on Mondays...

To be fair - the Guggenheim was under construction. So I didn't get to see everything they have to offer. But I really felt like there wasn't really all that much to see! I felt like each floor had less and less that I found even remotely appealing.

Perhaps I have been spoiled from visiting some incredible museums in Europe. But honestly, I wouldn't go back here.

1/28/2013

I went here this weekend. The layout of the museum is interesting and they had a nice art exhibit on display by an artist named Zarina. I got in for free with two other people because of a library museum pass program. (Readers - check your local library, some lend out museum passes to library card holders) If I didn't get into the museum for free and I had to pay admission I would have been terribly disappointed. This  museum is really not very big, I have been excited to come here for a few years and always thought it would be something to see but the size of the museum did not impress me. Maybe I'm used to the MET museum that one is pretty huge. My verdict the art work is nice they do have revolving exhibits, but if you are going to come here try to go for free or by discounted ticket rates if possible.

9/24/2013

Ist time their and building is amazing!!!! Sadly though the James Turrell xhibit was highly diassaponting!!!!

11/20/2012

The Guggenheim is one of the pricier museums here, so I save it for an exhibit I really want to see. Picasso's black and white did not disappoint.

That said, the Frank Lloyd Wright designed building is an exhibit in and of itself, so if you haven't been, it's definitely worth checking out.

10/19/2012

The Guggenheim's space is not ideal for "taking-in" hours of art; it's a magical place, however, to experience whichever particular exhibit's displayed in the main, spiraling gallery. I got the chance to see a minimally- but well-curated exhibit of black-and-white (and grey) Picassos, which was so powerfully presented along the one looping wall that I actually bought their sillily-priced book/catalogue.

It's also a great location to practice German hyperforeignisms, pretend you know something about Frank Lloyd Wright, and to discuss how much fun Clive Owen must have had filming The International.

12/2/2012

My main attraction to the Guggenheim was less the Art, but more of the  architecture of the building.  This Frank Lloyd Wright designed building looks totally out of place  in New York's Upper East side, but at the same time you feel a sense of natural belonging and beauty.

The flow of the spiralling ramps creates a unique atmosphere in which to display art.  Instead of the conventional room-by-room approach to displaying exhibits, the spiral is subdivided naturally into sections.  It gives you the ability to enjoy a piece of art, illuminated with natural ( and artificial) light, in an open expanse but at the same time not confined to one gallery room.

The geometric designs which repeat throughout the building all seem to tie things together. Look for the triangles and circles in the floors and the ceilings.

A beautiful, stunning piece of architecture not to be missed in NYC!

7/8/2011

Gug's Art after Dark is a great idea. It made me realized that the iconic structure is actually good for parties as well. With a crowd of people drinking and socializing on the ground floor lobby, a huge noise was swirling up and it's well kept by the building shell. Some creative DJs also scratched some dizzy and mystic sound (not music I am sure) to make it a perfect house of intensive noise. With this kind of background sound, and the hyper from alcohol, you can start your journey to Lee Ufan's world. His pieces would perfectly calm you down, cool you off, and meditate you into a status of emptiness... Isn't this challenging experience wonderful?

But, as one of those Asians, born with calm already, influenced by Zen culture heavily, and carrying an allergy to alcohol poorly, I found Lee's exhibit too familiar, too quiet, and a bit depressing. I was quite concerned after seeing the entire exhibit because my energy level dropped much. Well, the Feldmann's one dollar exhibit very well cheered me up, balanced my energy, and dragged my mind back from infinitive eternalness to the reality...  Who said money won't bring you true happiness, huh?

Cannot wait for the next Art after Dark event, who knows what will be the next surprise at Gug?

2/17/2013

Came here for the first time with my boyfriend a few months ago, and the featured exhibit was Picasso. Of course I love Picasso but unfortunately the layout of the museum is very conducive for crowds congregating around the art to be in the way of passer-bys -- making it difficult for those who want to linger to enjoy the art/read the captions.

Overall, an A-OK museum and the museum store had a lot of cute items.

9/20/2013

I was disappointed by it. There are only a limited amount of works inside. And to see especial exhibit on top floor it was an hour queue.
The building looks cool from the outside, inside its a maze.

8/31/2011

I love the architecture in this museum. Frank Lloyd Wright designed it, and let me tell you he is a genius! With his love for geometric shapes, he has incorporated circular shapes inside the museum and outside as well. Lovin' the continuity.

I saw Lee Ufan's exhibit which was interesting. I wonder what the next exhibition will be..

8/29/2013

Disappointed with the current exhibit of light in that most of the spiral was empty to fabric it off for the light exhibit. Light exhibit of changing colors was not interesting.

7/18/2011

Was quite disappointed since most of the exhibits are closed for renovation when I visited. Only the main permanent exhibits remained open to public but that is a really small portion of what the museum usually has to offer. There are some good collection but I can't say I was all that impressed. The museum building itself is stunning (so as most of Frank Lloyd Wright 's work). Audio tour is included in the entrance fee which is nice. A museum visit is just not the same without one.