A day at the Museum

1st floor, Atrium

The Atrium is the beating heart of the building, connecting the interior to the exterior. The walkways pumping visitors into or out of it offer new standpoints to observe the artwork on view.

1st floor, gallery 104

You can experience and activate time and space by wondering about The Matter of Time, an installation by Richard Serra (1994-2005).

1st floor, Atrium

Standing in dialogue with the interior and the exterior of the building designed by Frank Gehry, site-specific works by contemporary artists make a significant part of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Collection.

Plaza

If you need a break or a snack, go to the Bar Guggenheim Bilbao, next to the Bistró, in the Museum plaza.

1st floor, terrace

From the riverfront terrace you can see how the Museum is seamlessly integrated into the surrounding cityscape in terms of materials (glass, titanium, limestone) and how it connects with the surrounding buildings and structures.

3rd floor

The third floor houses Works from the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Collection, a journey through some of the leading art movements in the second half of the 20th century and the early years of the 21st, including works by renowned artists like Cristina Iglesias, Sol LeWitt, or Mark Rothko belonging to the Museum Collection.

Restaurants

The Museum affords two spaces with different culinary experiences: Nerua Guggenheim Bilbao, an haute cuisine restaurant, and the Bistró Guggenheim Bilbao, a restaurant wrapped in a more informal atmosphere.

1st floor

The Museum Store/Bookstore offers a wide range of items, including design objects, exhibition catalogues, books, and all kinds of gifts. Discounts available for Museum Members. You can also buy from home visiting our online Store.

Please bear in mind that, for conservation and safety reasons, you are not allowed to touch the art. Also, you must keep a safe distance from the works (about 1 meter). Thanks!

This tour of the exhibition Giovanni Anselmo: Beyond the Horizon was designed with the artist himself. It covers galleries 205, 206, 207, and 209 of the Museum.

Giovanni Anselmo (1934-2023) was one of the leaders of the Arte Povera movement, advocating a return to simple objects and messages in art, thus enhancing the art experience. However, his work is difficult to categorize. Similarly, the exhibition flows seamlessly from one work to the next, exploring the materials used, as provided by both nature – granite, cotton, anthracite – and industry – concrete, steel, methacrylate.

In his works, Anselmo goes beyond the representation of the landscape to present the energies of nature that govern the universe instead – energies that we cannot see but that determine everyday reality: gravity, magnetic fields, time, and so on.

The exhibition Signs and Objects. Pop Art from the Guggenheim Collection can be seen in galleries 201, 202, 203, and 208.

In the 1960s, some of the artists living in the US began to show the interests and tastes of the emerging consumer culture in their work. James Rosenquist, Claes Oldenburg, Andy Warhol, and others drew on advertising, its elements and methods—bright colors, materials like vinyl, mass-reproduction techniques like screen-printing, etc. Other artists, such as Chryssa and Roy Lichtenstein, took signs and simplified graphic elements from comic strips and placed them in a new context, giving rise to different interpretations. Finally, the contemporary artists included in this exhibition offer current looks at such issues as advertising strategies, identity, and the material resources of art, updating some of the keys of Pop art.

March 1-June 9, 2024

The exhibition dedicated to June Crespo (1982) includes both recent and site-specific works, created by the artist for Gallery 105 of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. In this open-plan space, June Crespo. Vascular invites us to explore the relationships between sculpture, museum architecture, and our physical presence in the gallery.

Crespo’s sculptures undergo transformation in several stages along the creative process. Vascular, for instance, began as a scan and 3D print model, then was scaled up using molds for the pieces in bronze or concrete.

Many of Crespo’s works show traces of the industrial processes they have undergone. In fact, some are displayed on lift platforms or work benches, or they are fastened with the straps normally used to move or handle heavy sculptures. On the other hand, the presence of textiles or clothes belonging to the artist introduce a touch of color and warmth, in contrast to the coldness of industrial materials.