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.

On the Museum’s second floor you will find and exhibition of some of the most relevant works by Swedish artist and pioneer of abstraction Hilma af Klint (b. 1862; d. 1944).

Hilma af Klint’s works were visual representations of complex spiritual ideas, predating the first purely abstract compositions by artists such as Piet Mondrian, Vasily Kandinsky, and other creators. Inspired by Theosophy, Anthroposophy, and other spiritual and religious movements, af Klint deals with subjects that include the different stages of life, the evolution, and others. She also drew inspiration from science, as attested by the series shown in gallery 202, dedicated to subatomic particles, and the numerous entries on the subject in her notebooks.

Having filled over 20,000 pages with her notes, af Klint expressed her wish for her work to remain unseen for twenty years after her death. Accordingly, she left a treasure of abstract work for future generations to find.

Paul Pfeiffer. Prologue to the Story of the Birth of Freedom presents a selection of photographs, video installations, and sculptures by Paul Pfeiffer (b. 1966, Honolulu, Hawaii), where the artist explores how sporting events and popular culture are currently imbued with rituals similar to those of religion—worship, devotion, veneration. The exhibition begins in gallery 105 and continues in gallery 103.

Pfeiffer appropriates footage from sports or films, which he edits and manipulates with digital software, transforming these images into uncanny scenes set in familiar contexts. In Caryatid (2003, gallery 105), for instance, the artist removes the players from the images, so that the massive cup seems to hover alone before the crowd.

Resorting to a wide range of mediums, from miniature formats to big screens, Pfeiffer brings the collective experience into an intimate encounter with the individual viewer. Moreover, according to his usual process, he lays bare some of the exhibition installation elements, thus exposing what generally remains unseen.

In the hall leading to gallery 103, you will find the educational contents of Didaktika, which focuses on the role of the stadium as a generator of collective experiences.