The Guggenheim will extend its hours throughout the summer “to absorb the large influx of public it is receiving,” according to sources from the institution. Specifically, it will remain open every day of the week from 10:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. from today and … until September 22. Those responsible for the museum had to adopt a similar measure in 2022 due to the great success of the exhibition ‘Motion. Cars, Art, Architecture’, curated by Norman Foster.
The focus of attraction on this occasion is not the cars, but exhibitions such as the one focused on art by and the retrospective of the Austrian artist Marta Jungwirth, opened on the 7th. The measure is also taken in anticipation of the imminent opening of an exhibition that is expected to be massive: the Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara will arrive on June 28 at the Bilbao museum with his figures of plump girls with big eyes, which have catapulted him as one of the most sought-after living artists.
The exhibition ‘Signs and objects. Pop Art from the Guggenheim Collection’ brings together well-known figures such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein and James Rosenquist until September 15. Sponsored by BBK, there are 40 works by 17 artists who redefined the border between art and consumer products until they were indistinguishable, from t-shirts to a can of soup, to boxes of detergent or advertisements. Divided into two rooms –Signs and Objects–, you can see creations by Richard Hamilton, considered the creator of this movement; two pieces by Warhol, the best known of them all, or four by Lichtenstein. It will remain in Bilbao until September 15.
A week and a half ago, 70 works by the painter Martha Jungwirth, a declared admirer of Goya, arrived at the museum. It is the second time that her work can be seen in Spain since this abstract artist received the Miró Prize in 1966. It can be seen until September 22. ‘Works from the Collection of the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao’ and ‘Anthony MacCall: Fraction of a Second’ are also held in the Film & Video Room, starting this Wednesday.
The precedent of 2022
Two summers ago, tourists also gathered at the doors of the Guggenheim to access its rooms. Then they came attracted by some of the most expensive and exclusive cars in the world, like a Ferrari 250 GTO that sold for $80 million in 2018; a 1914 Rolls Royce 40/50 Alpine Eagle; a Bugatti Type 35 from 1924, or a Voisin C-7 owned by Foster that once belonged to Le Corbusier. They were part of the exhibition ‘Motion. Autos, Art, Architecture’, which explored the artistic dimension of the automobile and its connection with painting, sculpture, architecture or photography.
That summer, the first ‘normal’ one after the pandemic, the capital of Biscay received a flood of tourists who were noticeable in the museum. From August 8 to 14 of that year, the 25th anniversary, the Guggenheim received 50,434 visitors, its weekly public record, with a daily average of 7,204 people. In total, 751,243 visitors viewed the exhibition.
