The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in the Upper East Side neighborhood of
Manhattan is permanent home to a continuously expanding collection of Impressionist,
Post-Impressionist, early Modern, and contemporary art. The museum was established
by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation in 1939 as the Museum of Non-Objective
Painting then adopted its current name in 1952, three years after the death
of its founder. In 1959, the museum moved from rented space to its current
building, a landmark work of 20th-century architecture designed by Frank
Lloyd Wright. The cylindrical building, wider at the top than at the bottom,
was conceived as a "temple of the spirit". Its unique ramp gallery extends
up from ground level in a long, continuous spiral along the outer edges
of the building to end just under a ceiling skylight.
Photo by Leslie Lopez Holder
