Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Permanent Collection

From WikiEducators Guggenheim Bilbao

Outside Installations

An important part of the Guggenheim Bilbao Collection can be found outside the building. Jeff Koons Puppy (1992), an enormous steel sculpture of a dog covered with live flowers, welcomes visitors at the front of the Museum. Another one of Koons’ works of art, "Tulips" (1995-2004), made of brightly colored steel, is located on the terrace overlooking the river.

Louise Bourgeois’ bronze sculpture Maman (1991, cast in 2001), one of the pieces in her Spider series, sits at the river's edge.

Below the walkway leading to museum on the river side of the Museum is Fujiko Nakaya’s ephemeral Fog Sculpture #08025 (F.O.G., 1998), an atmospheric sculpture created instantaneously with a blast of artificial fog. The collection includes another ephemeral work entitled Fire Fountain (1961) by artist Yves Klein. Set in the pool at the back of the Museum, the project links water and fire, spewing five flames at nightfall.

Lastly, Daniel Buren's sculpture Red Arches (Arcos Rojos/Arku gorriak, 2007) covers the central structure of the La Salve Bridge, its huge red arches reflected in the river. Black and white vertical stripes on the external edges conceal a lighting element.

Installations as a part of the city

Louise Bourgeois, French-born American sculptor, is one of the most celebrated living artists today. Much of her work is autobiographical, expressed in the way of installations. Maman, on the side Guggenheim Museum Bilbao facing the river, adds to the city's urban landscape, just like the Museum itself.

Louis Bourgeois' steel and bronze sculpture Maman stands nine metres high and belongs to the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Collection. The piece is part of a series of similar sculptures located in different places around the world. It presents the spider as a symbol of motherhood and shelter, while at the same time suggesting the restlessness, obsessions and memories of the artist’s childhood.

Bronze casts of Bourgeois’ Maman are on permanent display at the Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, Korea, the MoriArtCenter in Tokyo, Japan, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa, Canada.

The large scale of her sculptures gives them the feel of installations, since they seem to have a rapport with the architectural elements that surround them. The complexity of pieces of this type located in public places prompts the debate over the possibility of including artwork in designing the physical layout of cities.

Architecture or Sculpture?

In celebration of its tenth anniversary, the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao commissioned Daniel Buren to create an artistic project that would incorporate the La Salve Bridge. Conceived a site-specific work for one of the most unique spots in the Museum area, the project also adds to the artistic heritage of the city itself.

Daniel Buren shows a keen interest in the literal components of his work, i.e. surface and support, both front and back, which prompt him to explore the material and ideological aspects of a work of art.

Buren’s project Red Arches is based on his conviction that the steel arch of the bridge is the only element that distorts the perfect harmony achieved by Frank Gehry between the Museum and the bridge, which is embraced and integrated into the building’s architecture. As Buren puts it, the arch “is not visually connected to the elegance of Museum.”

So his proposal concentrates on transforming the structure of the bridge, covering it with a colored “skin”, as a sort of sculpture, thus modifying the shape of the bridge without affecting its original function in any way. For his sculpture, Buren has chosen a vivid red to create a sharp contrast with the bridge’s predominating green, while at the same time establishing a “chromatic connection” with the titanium scales of Gehry’s building. The succession of black and white stripes on the edges acts as a counterpoint to the red.

The installation entails two types of lighting: one static that illuminates both sides of the “red sculpture”; the other a rather more dynamic, complex illumination located at the sides to give an effect of constant movement to the bridge’s internal and external edges.

Daniel Buren’s Red Arches tightens the link between sculpture and architecture, displaying the close and fruitful kinship that has always existed between the two disciplines. It is up to the spectator to decide how deep this relationship really goes, and where the boundaries lie between aesthetics and function.

Resources

Library

Maderuelo, Javier. Arte Público. Diputación Provincial de Huesca. Huesca, 1995
Bourgeois, Louise. Destruction of the Father: Writings and interviews, 1923–1997. The MIT Press Ed. 1998.
Bourgeois, Louise. Louise Bourgeois. Tate Gallery Publications. London, 2007.
Kellein Thomas/Bourgeois Louise. La Familie. Louise Bourgeois. Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther König, 2006.
Various authors. Louise Bourgeois. Published by JRP/Ringer, 2007.
Bourgeois, Louise. Destrucción del padre/Reconstrucción del padre. Editorial Síntesis. 2002.
Bal, Mieke. Una casa para el sueño de la razón. Ensayo sobre Louise Bourgeois. Editorial Cendeac, 2007
Hernando Carrasco, Javier. "Daniel Buren. La postpintura en el campo expandido". Editorial Cendeac, 2007.
Cruz, Pedro Alberto. Daniel Buren. Editorial Nerea, Madrid, 2006.
Several authors. Daniel Buren, 1997–1999. Catalogue Raisonné. Published by Centre Pompidou, Paris, 2002.
Lelong, Guy. Daniel Buren. Editorial Flammarion, París. 2001.
Buren, Daniel. Repertoire. Published by Art Metropole, Toronto Ontorio, 2006.
Guía para educadores y Mini Guía en torno a la exposición Arquiescultura, 28 oct., 2005–26 feb., 2006. Materiales didácticos del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao.
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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York). 100 works by modern masters from The Guggenheim Museum. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1984.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York). Guggenheim Bildumaren maisu–lan modernoak: [erakusketa]. Obras maestras modernas de la Colección Guggenheim: [exposición] Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1993.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York). Art of this Century: the Guggenheim Museum and its collection. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, 1993.
Peggy Guggenheim Collection (Venice). Masterpieces from the Peggy Guggenheim Collection. New York: Guggenheim Museum, 1993.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York). El arte de este siglo: el Museo Guggenheim y su colección. New York: The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Bilbao: Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa, 1997.
Guía para educadores y hoja didáctica en torno a la exposición Imágenes en movimiento. Fotografía y vídeo contemporáneos de la colección de los Museos Guggenheim, 7 oct, 2003–12 mayo, 2004. Materiales didácticos del Museo Guggenheim Bilbao.