Geography of Art

Notable Museums Around The World

Located on Fifth Avenue of the Upper East Side, Manhattan, this art museum houses Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern and Contemporary art.
· Established in 1939 as the ‘Museum of Non-Objective Painting’ by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, it was renamed the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 1952 as a memorial to its late founder.
· Its current building is considered a landmark of 20^th century architecture and is conceived as a ‘temple of the spirit’, cylindrical and wider at the top than the bottom. It was built in 1959. The museum itself opened to the public in October of the same year.
· The museum describes itself as “a vital cultural centre, an educational institution, and the heart of an international network of museums”.
· The collections at the Guggenheim feature over 7,000 artworks by more than 650 artists, such as Matisse, Picasso, Van Gogh, and Warhol. It represents the museum's unique history, which has mapped the development of 20th and 21st century art.Many special exhibitions are also held throughout the year.
· Collections include:

o A collection of abstract and Surrealist painting and sculpture Peggy Guggenheim's (Solomon R. Guggenheim’s niece)

o Thannhauser Collection, featuring an array of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, and early modern masterpieces

o Count Giuseppe Panza di Biumo's vast holdings of European and American Minimalist, Post-Minimalist, Environmental, and Conceptual art

o The Solomon R. Guggenheim Founding Collection, the donated private art collection of the museum’s founder

o The Hilla Rebay Collection, the donated private art collection of the museum’s first director and curator

· The Guggenheim does not divide its collection based on the specific mediums used or the era in which it was created; instead, the collection is envisaged as an “integrated whole”.
· In 2013, the Guggenheim hosted the most popular exhibition in the city and received 1.2 million visitors.