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Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum

Location: 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street, Manhattan

Telephone: 1(212)423-3500

Web: www.guggenheim.org

Hours: Sun - Wed 10am - 5:45pm, Fri 10am - 5:45pm, Sat 10am - 7:45pm. Closed Thursdays and Christmas Day, open all other holidays.

Directions:
Bus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M86, M96
Subway: to 86 St

Admission: Adults $18, Students & Seniors (65 years +) with valid ID $15, children under 12 FREE, members FREE.

History: Opened in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective Art on East 54th Street by copper mining tycoon Solomon R. Guggenheim. Frank Lloyd Wright received the commission in 1943 and it was completed after his death in 1959. Today, the building itself is perhaps the museum's greatest masterpiece. It is Wright's only important commission in New York City.

Opened in October 1959, it is shaped like a spiral that is narrowest at its base and built entirely of hand-plastered concrete, inside and outside, over a steel frame. A curved ramp leads upward from the street level to the height of the building, allowing exhibitions to be mounted in one continuous line. Wright intended for visitors to begin at the top and move downward.

The Justin K. Thannhauser Collection, which made the museum's holdings comprehensive, was added in 1960 and in 1992 a contriversial new ten-story wing opened adjacent to the original building.

Major holdings include works by Bancusi, Calder, Kandinsky, Klee, Chagall, Mirs, Leger, Mondrian, Picasso, Oldenberg, Cizanne, Gauguin, van Gogh, and Rauschenberg.

Nearby Places of Interest:

  • Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum
  • Jewish Museum
  • Neue Galerie New York
  • Central Park
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art

Advisory: Allow yourself a minimum of 90 minutes. On Friday evenings from 6-8 PM the museum has a suggested admissions policy. During this time visitors may pay what they wish. The use of photography (cameras, video equipment) is permitted only on the ground floor. Tripods are not permitted anywhere in the museum.
The Museum Store Hours: Saturday-Wednesday 9:30 AM-6:15 PM, Thursday 11 AM-6 PM, Friday 9:30 AM-8:30 PM. Museum Store: (212) 423-3615.
Museum Cafi Hours: Exhibition Hours, Saturday-Wednesday 9:30 AM-5:45 PM, Thursday 9:30 AM-3 PM, Friday 9:30 AM-8 PM.

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