The Guggenheim Museum

I know pictures of the Guggenheim Museum are not new to the blog. Everytime we walk past it, I can't help but take a picture, because it is just so cool looking. Well this time we weren't just walking by. We were there specifically to go inside....at last. 

It was the last thing on our original bucket list that we had yet to cross off. We'd just never gotten around to it, partially because there was always something more exciting on the list and partially because we were wary of the type of modern art it houses. But we love the building, and have wanted to experience it's interior, so this last Saturday evening we finally made a visit. They have pay-what-you-wish admission on Saturday from 5:45 to 7:45 pm. 

We arrived on the corner of 5th Avenue and 88th Street (Upper East Side) around 5:15. We are glad we arrived early, because there was already quite the line formed, stretching from the front doors to half-way down the block around the corner. Quite a few people in front of us stepped out of line to buy an ice cream cone or hot dog from the vendor carts on the corner. The wait wasn't horrible, and the line moved fairly quickly once the admission time came, but it was hot and muggy, so we were a bit overheated by the time we got inside. 

We passed through the security check just outside the front doors. A security guard glancing briefly into each person's purse or backpack. Between the security check and the front doors, we noticed that the building's designer, Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW), had signed his work. His initials are carved into the red-painted wood square that hangs on the building's exterior near the entrance.

Just through the revolving glass door way, sits this metal plaque embedded in the floor. 

Source

When you first walk in, your eyes are immediately drawn upward past the spiraling tiers of the ramp to the skylight set in the center of the building's roof. It is quite a sight. I don't think I've ever been in another building like it.

   

It's hard to not just stop right there and gaze at the open spaciousness of the room, and the beautiful nautilus-esque design. You can read more about the design process and the building's history here or here. We couldn't stop for long, because the nearby guard directed the line forward to the ticket counters. We love suggested admission! We paid $2.00 for two tickets and were ushered out into the open foyer on the bottom floor. We stopped to enjoy the upwards view and snap a few pictures.

I read after our visit that FLW had intended the patrons to first ride the elevator up to the top-most ramp and then leisurely stroll down the ramp that spirals around the outer edge of the room, enjoying the art on the way down. Once they reached the bottom, the patrons could then look up and enjoy the building's design as the last piece of art they viewed before leaving. I don't know if anyone does that, it didn't seem like it while we were there. Everyone, including us, headed toward the start of the ramp, where we gave our tickets to the guard and were given access to the pathway upward.

So this is where our appreciation and positive impression stopped. We absolutely loved the building, and enjoyed walking up the ramp and getting different views as we moved upward. We had prepared ourselves to not expect anything great in the art department. It was so much worse than we expected. While there were only a handful of vulgar and openly offensive pieces, the majority of the art was just head-scratching and honestly frustrating. It is such a beautiful building, and I came out feeling confused on why they don't fill it with beautiful art instead of junk.

Our expectations were confirmed (and later exceeded) as we caught sight of our first "artwork" just shortly after ascending up the ramp. A plastic Pinocchio figure, floating face down in a small pond of water. Lovely.

Most of the art was displayed on the wall that the ramp runs by, but every now and then we came to an alcove or doorway that led into a small room. And I can't say that it was all bad, because they did have one small room full of paintings that were quite pretty. There were some pieces by Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Seurat, etc. Some lovely landscapes, portraits, and still life paintings. It was a breath of fresh air from the other "art." I didn't realize at first that no photography was allowed in this little room, so I captured a couple pictures accidentally. We were allowed to take as many pictures as we wanted to of everything but the two sections that actually contained something worthwhile. The other section was further up and contained art projects made by elementary school children in New York. Their mobiles, paper-mache masks, drawings, and pinata's were so much cooler than the other modern art we saw. Haha!

I thought this Van Gogh was very pretty. It is called "Landscape with Snow" and reminded me of my family's farm in Chester, Idaho.

The entrances to the stairs on each round were screened with strands of gold beads. It was kind of funny to watch people play with them and walk through, thinking that it was the entrance to some great art exhibit, only to see them come back through looking a little sheepish and disappointed. The gold bead curtains were actually an art piece as we discovered on a nearby plaque (I don't remember the name of the "artist.") We couldn't help but laugh, that wasn't art, that was something you could buy at the dollar store. Maybe we should get some for our apartment.

I didn't take very many pictures, just a few of more of the tame pieces. This piece was painted right on the wall and had something to do with censorship and North Korea. 

These sculptures were weird, but not offensive, so they were some of the better things we saw there.

This one was kind of fun...it consists of bent nails sticking out of the wall.

In the other NYC museums we've been to, there are always people moving slowly through the rooms, stopping to study and ponder different pieces. That wasn't the case here. Everyone was constantly walking on, only stopping for a few seconds here and there. I think it's because there was nothing worthwhile to look at.

We really liked these Stonehenge and Easter Island Head "pillows." They would be fun to have in a family room. Snuggling up with one of those while reading a good book or watching a movie sounds awesome. Building Stonehenge forts sounds even cooler.

Every museum should have some plaster toilet paper mummies.

The building is a lot taller than it seems. I got a little bit of vertigo when we looked over the edge of one of the top tiers...it's a long way down. 

You'll never lose your shopping cart again, when you use this one made of fluorescent bulbs. Be advised: you'll need sunglasses and an extension cord.

If you have any spare blinds hanging around, you can always dye them and intertwine them to create a colorful 70's inspired mobile screen to spruce up your home.

It only took us an hour, if even that, to walk the entire ramp and reach the top. We were walking fairly slowly and looked at everything. Nothing grabbed us enough to stop and study though, especially the glass encased display of bits of litter arranged by color, and the large clay smokestack surrounded by dead dogs made of the same clay. In many cases, the pieces urged us to walk faster. We were happy to have reached the top, where there was nothing else to look at. Haha!

We had an up-close view of the skylight from the very top of the ramp.

Instead of walking back down the ramp and having to look at the "art" again, we took the stairs. After a quick browse through the gift shop we left. The museum sits right across the street from Central Park, and it was a relief to see something beautiful. We found ourselves a little emotionally drained from the experience, which tells me that what we saw was not art. Our definition of art is something that is beautiful and inspiring. We had a long discussion about it as we wandered back toward the subway station.

Walking home, I spotted this window box full of giant ornamental allium plants. They were pretty, but looked a little overpowering for the building they were hanging from. I want window boxes.

Three last thoughts:

1. I'm really glad we went, just because we got to experience the beautiful building. It really is a work of art. I would pay more than $2 to go into a building like that. I would expect people to pay me to go to an art show like that again. We will probably not visit the Guggenheim again. 

2. It is ridiculous what people try to pass off as art. It is ridiculous that other people buy into it and pay huge amounts of money to see or own something that required no skill or effort to make. Anyone can pull the drivetrain out of an automobile and place it on the floor. Anyone can cut out the seat covers and hang them on the wall. That is not beautiful. That is not art.

3. I hope I didn't cause offense to anyone who does like this kind of modern art. That was not my intent. To each his own. I was just expressing my thoughts--the opinion of an unpretentious Idaho girl.