Guggenheim Museum

The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is located on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at East 89th Street and Fifth Avenue. It opened in 1959 and is one of the more popular and well known museums in New York City. It is also one of the most important architectural achievements of 20th century. It's spiral design allows patrons to follow a continuous unbroken path while viewing an entire exhibition.

Solomon Guggenheim began to collect works by contemporary abstract artists in 1929. He first began to show his acquisitions from his apartment. As the collection grew, he established The Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1937 and opened an exhibition space at 24 East Fifty Fourth Street. After outgrowing this space by 1943, the famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design a new, grander space. It took Wright 15 years to finish the project. In the fall of 1959, ten years after the death of Solomon Guggenheim and six months after the death of Wright the museum finally opened to the public.

The Guggenheim, as it is commonly referred to, is the permanent home to a renowned collection of Impressionist, Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art, and also features special exhibitions throughout the year.