Analysis : Solomon R. Guggenheim

Never before have I seen a museum as grand as the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. From its architecture to its massive art collection, The Met has a little bit of everything and one is sure to find something that captures his or her interest. Considering that The Met is the United States' largest art museum, it is easy to get lost within its many corridors and wings. My visit to The Met took place during the last week of July. Despite the almost unbearable heat and humidity that hung in the air, visiting museums under these climate conditions is a welcome respite from a suffocating, yet bright summer afternoon.

New York City, one of the greatest cities of the world, is remarkable because of its history, culture, and diversity. It is world renowned for its skyscrapers, Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building, Madison Square Garden, Broadway entertainment, Radio City Music Hall, Central Park, and even restaurants specializing in ethnic foods. However, the thing that most intrigues and excites me about New York City is the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Positioned alongside Central Park in the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museum, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a certain set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within the museum. Brent Plate in Religion, Art, and Visual Culture argues that “objects obtain different meanings in different locations and historical settings.”An object placed on display behind a glass case inside a museum would hold a vastly different meaning if it was put on sale by a street vendor, like the ones who set up their tables in close proximity to the Met. The different meanings that objects are able to obtain is attributed to the relationships that are established between the object itself and the environment that surrounds it. These relationships often involve the kind of audience that a museum attracts, where the work is exhibited, and how the exhibits within a museum is planned out. Museums subsequently have the ability to control how these relationships are established which influences the way a viewer is able to construct meaning. When a visitor observes an object on display at the Met, they instinctively construct a certain set of

The first room of the museum pulled in the audience with artwork from the 20th century. Although it may seem like artwork put together at the last minute, if you look closer, you will see something entirely different. Each piece had so much detail and unique qualities, such as style and art form, that you haven't see in many other museums before. It is important to appreciate the erratic design and character of each piece of art, but after seeing the entire museum, it is easy see the monumental difference between art now, and the art of our past. Art of the past showed a lot more

The main building of the Art Institute is constructed mostly of masonry, with few windows, and feels very heavy and overpowering. Grand staircases and large columns dwarf visitors as they move through the galleries. This is similar to the way the art in the space makes you feel: small, unimportant, and sometimes even afraid. The Modern wing in constructed of steel and glass, and is very open and bright (except when intended not to be). The large north wall facing Millenium Park is one large expanse of windows, letting in plenty of indirect sunlight, and opening the gallery to the park. The space feels very light, in both senses of the word. As with the old building, the art feels similar to the space in that it is more open and less opressive.

The Whitney Museum of American Art has often been referred to a citadel of American Art, partially due to the museums façade, a striking granite building (Figure 1), designed by Bauhaus trained architect Marcel Breuer. The museum perpetuates this reference through its biennial review of contemporary American Art, which the Whitney has become most famous for. The biennial has become since its inception a measure of the state of contemporary art in America today.

With exhibitions of the most thought-provoking art, The Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago is one of the Nation’s largest facilities devoted to the art of our time (“About the MCA”) . The mission of the MCA is to offer a direct experience to the public of modern day art and living artists. German architect Joseph Paul Kleihues designed the new building with seven times the square feet of its previous facility (“The Building”) . October of 1967 the museum opened its doors to the public for the first time. The Museum of Contemporary Art is a symbol of modern art, culture, and the artist of our time. It is a stepping stone in history and will leave footprints in the heart of Chicago for many generations to come.

The Guggenheim Museum is a form of abstract art which has no separate floor levels but uses a spiral ramp. This was his ideal of continuous space and most significant building. His principles

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 by a group of American citizens. It opened on February 20, 1872 and was originally located at 681 on Fifth Avenue. Also known as “The Met”, the museum is located on the eastern edge of Central Park in New York City. It has a permanent collection containing more than two million works of art. The main building of the Met is one of the world’s largest art galleries. The museum permanent collection includes art from

From the observation tower the horizontal building’s three parallel bands can be seen that extend into the lush landscape. The architects’ concept was to immerse the museum in nature by creating a set of three bracketed pavilions under one roof surrounded by gardens. The roof can be seen as

Positioned alongside Central Park within the heart of New York City, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the largest and most influential art museums in the world. The Met houses an extensive collection of curated works that spans throughout various time periods and different cultures. The context of museums, especially one as influential as the Met, inherently predisposes its visitors to a set of understandings that subtly influence how they interpret and ultimately construct meanings about each individual object within a museum. By analyzing two separate works on exhibit at the Met, I will pose the argument that museums offer a unique expression of a world view that is dictated through every element of its construction.

The Museum of Modern Art in New York City is the world’s leading modern art. Its exhibits have been a major influence in creating and stimulating popular awareness of modern art and its accompanying diversity of its styles and movements. The museum’s outstanding collections of modern painting, sculpture, drawings, and prints range from Impressionisms to current movements. Moreover, there are exhibits of modern architecture, industrial design, sculpture, photography, prints and electronic media. The museum presently has a modern art library of 300,000 books and impressive collections of films that are shown regularly. The Museum is said to be the complementary of the Metropolitan Museum

The couple stored the collection in their home for a long period of time, the even agreed to loan two hundred pieces to a “New York Dali retrospective” before finally deciding to give the collection a permanent home. Dali encouraged the couple to build a museum in New York, although they thought this was a wonderful idea they still kept searching. One of their goals for the collection was to preserve the collections historical integrity. When word reached St. Petersburg, attorney, James W. Martin worked quickly to persuade

I am only going to talk about the outside of Frank Geary's museum because I have never been there, and I have only seen pictures on the internet. This building is surprisingly attractive because the other building that we saw in class of his, his house in Santa Monica, had a great deal of "ugliness," to use an official term. His house in Santa Monica was supposed to look unfinished, with an emphasis on the materials used in construction. This building, however, looks as if it has been wrapped in silver. It looks very futuristic, and angular, so it could be functional as a museum as a museum because people will know it holds modern art. I like the way that it catches reflections, almost mirroring the surrounding buildings.

The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao is a museum that represents modern and contemporary art. Its story first begins when Thomas Krens the director of Solomon R. Guggenheim foundation in New York City, was looking for a museum location in Europe. He chose the industrial wasteland in the middle of the city on a curve of the Nervion River. The site was located in the center of